Moving and Finding Something New
by DarkeningBlur.HLR
Summary: Xander/Alex get's found out about his lie to Buffy, and she doesn't take it well. He leaves SunnyDale and finds out he has an Uncle in Washington DC, we'll follow his story and see how his new life goes, there will be ups and downs, but he is happy in his new life, will that get disturbed by his past coming back to haunt him?
1. Chapter 1

**Moving and Finding something new**

 **Xander's Pov**

It's been two years since I lied to Buffy, making her send Angel to hell, something that devastated me to do, but then Angel came back and thanked me quietly, for lying to Buffy. We had come to an arrangement to try and get along, and we got along very well and became close friends, even though I wished it could be something more. He told me he was planning on leaving after graduation, I was the only one who knew and it made me sad to know that my friend and secret crush was leaving Sunnydale.

But I understood why he was leaving he didn't want to be around his past love that sent him to hell with his soul intact. He told me some of what he remembered of what happened, I would want to forget if that happened to me.

Once graduation was over and the mayor defeated, everyone was celebrating, the downfall and surviving high school, and when the party was over we all mourned the losses we suffered.

I had been planning on going on a road trip around the country, getting out of Sunnydale for the summer, I had told Angel and he helped me fix up my Uncle Rory's car so it wouldn't break on me not even half way through my trip. So a few days after the last funeral I was packing getting ready to leave on my trip, I had just moved my bags to the front door, when a knock came on the said door, I frowned and opened the door and there was immediately pain spreading through my face, radiating from my nose.

Holding my nose, I glanced up and saw Buffy was stood there looking furious with an equally angry Willow stood just behind her.

"What the heck was that for Buffy?"

"For lying to me! You made me send Angel to hell because you told me Willow said kick his butt! Not that she was trying the ensoulment spell! You lying bastard! You think we wouldn't find out?! Think we wouldn't talk about it!" everything she said came punctuated with a punch and a kick both of which sent me collapsing to the floor like a sack of potatoes

"What do you think you are doing?! Get out of my house!" I heard my mum screech at the top of her voice, running out of the living room towards us as her feet stopped next to my prone form

"Get out of Sunnydale Harris, before sundown, and don't come back, because if you do you'll end up like everything else that I slay." Buffy ordered before turning and leaving

"Willow- "I coughed blood splattering onto my hand

"Leave Xander and don't come back, I never want to see your lying face again." She glared before storming off after Buffy.

"Xander? Are you hurt?" My mum asked, kneeling down next to me, I groaned and sat up

"I'm fine, I need to leave." I slowly got up, slowly making my way upstairs to pack the rest of my stuff, most of it was packed anyway because I was moving down to the basement. I managed to get everything into my car, and I was getting into my car when my mum came running out holding a large bulking brown envelope

"Here, you can stay here, he's my brother Jethro, he was the first one to hold you after you were born, he's been wanting to meet you for a while now, but your father wouldn't allow it, please go stay with him, he'll look after you, he'll take care of you." I took the envelope and got into my car, quickly starting it and driving off.

Driving out of Sunnydale wasn't the hardest thing to do, but I do regret not say goodbye to Giles, Oz or Cordelia, and I was also confused about why mum decided to help me finding somewhere to stay, or why she never told me I had another Uncle, or that he was the first one to hold me after I was born.

After driving for several hours I decided to pulling into a motel, it was getting late and I needed to sleep before driving again, because I don't need to fall asleep behind the wheel. I checked into the room for the night and took out the envelope mum had given me.

It was filled with letters and pictures, each of the letters were dated, some dated right back to when I was five. The most recent one was yesterday, I frowned because I had picked up the post and there weren't any for me, how had mum hidden it? Anyway I decided to open that one.

 _Dear Alexander,_

 _You'll have just turned seventeen now, so I don't know what you like to go by name wise, your mother never told me, to be honest we haven't had contact for years. So I decided to play it safe and stick with Alexander, like I did in all the other letters I haven't had a response saying anything different yet._

 _To be honest I don't even know if you're getting these letters, it wouldn't surprise me if your mother hid them, after the big fall out we had, she didn't want me to have any contact with you. Anyway if you did get my other letters I want you to know that my offer if still open._

 _I do really want the chance to see you again Alexander, and I also want you to meet my new partner Timothy McGee, he prefers Tim though, and our dog Jett._

 _I know what you're going to say, yes he's a member of my team and that's against my own rules, but I couldn't help myself anymore, I've loved him for years._

 _Anyway I still live in Washington D.C, and I still work at NCIS. Either of those places you'll be able to find me at, that's if you get these letters and actually want to meet me. (My address is on the back of the envelope)_

 _Also you know your grandfather? Jackson? Well, Tim managed to convince the both of us to get together for Christmas this year, well Tim convinced me to extend an invitation to Jackson, personally I don't think he'll come._

 _Anyway, you know where to find me if you ever want to visit, and my phone number below you'll be able to contact me it, if you ever want to call._

 _Love Uncle Jethro Gibbs_

"Now, I'm even more confused, maybe I should read more of these letters." The rest of the night was spent as a mixture between reading the letters and sleeping. I learnt a lot about my Uncle, his family that he had lost and his team. All this made me want to meet him even more.

After a fulfilling sleep, I checked out of the motel and was on the road again, heading towards Washington D.C.

Several hours later and several stops for gas, I found myself in Washington D.C, I pulled over and decided to call Uncle Gibbs.

I found out the phone number and my phone and dialled. It rang twice before it was picked up

 _Gibbs_

"Hello?"

 _Who is this?_

"It's Alexander Harris, Xander, your nephew."

 _Xander, I'm glad you finally called. But I'm kind of in the middle of something at the moment, did you need something?_

"I-I was just wondering if I could stay with you, I-I can't go back home and I need somewhere new to live, if you don't want me I can find somewhere else to live, I just- "

 _Xander! Calm down, of course you can stay with me, I'm at work at the moment so why don't you meet me here? Okay? Just calm down_

"Okay, I'm calm, I'll be there soon, I just got into D.C."

 _Okay good, I'll see you soon._

"Okay Bye." Then he hung up, I smiled slightly before putting my phone away and set off driving again, it took several stop to ask for directions, but I finally made it to the N.C.I.S Building. I parked my car and entered the building only to me immediately stopped by a Guard at the front desk

"Can I help you young man?" the guard asked

"I'm here to see Special Agent Gibbs, he knows I'm coming." He nodded slightly

"Name?"

"Xander Harris."

"Reason for being here?"

"Agent Gibbs is my Uncle." He nodded again

"Let me just make a call to double check alright?" I nodded and he picked up a phone "Hello? Special Agent Gibbs… it's Henry down in security…. I have a young Xander Harris here to see you, he claims he's your nephew…. Yes, sir… right away sir." Then he hung up the phone by putting it back in the set. I was soon equipped with a visitor's badge and send on my way to the elevator with a floor number.

The journey in the elevator was short and quiet as I was the only one in the elevator. When I arrived at the floor I stepped out and immediately saw the man who was my Uncle stood in the middle of a bullpen while the rest of his team were talking, briefing him on some information. I slowly moved to the entrance and waiting to be noticed or waited until they had finished talking so I could talk. But the man who was currently speaking stopped and turned to address me

"Can we help you?" he asked making everyone turn to look at me, my Uncle looking angry but his face softened upon seeing me

"Xander?" he asked me and I nodded. He smiled slightly stepping forward pulling me into a tight hug, I stiffened slightly before relaxing into his hold and hugging him back gripping onto the back of his shirt. "I'm so glad you're here Kiddo." I smiled into his shoulder

"Me too, Uncle Jethro." He chuckled and pulled out of the hug looking at my face, I saw his eyes suddenly narrow

"What happened?" he asked cupping my face in his hands, turning to each side to get a good look at the bruises developing on my face.

"It's nothing." I said trying to pull my face away from his hands, he moved his hands down to my shoulders

"Xander this is not nothing, it looking like someone has attacked you." I shifted slightly and he growled quietly and turned to the two members of his team

"DiNozzo, McGee find me anything you can on our Jane Doe, if you need me I'll be down with Ducky." They nodded and got to work, but I spotted the picture they had of the Jane Doe on the screen. My eyes widened it was Cordelia, what had she been doing in D.C "Xander? You okay Kiddo?"

"Boss he's looking at pictures of the crime scene; he looks like he's about to hurl." One of the men said

"Tony!" The other one hissed, as my Uncle's hands were trying to get me to turn away from the pictures, but I shook out of his hold

"Xander."

"I know who she is." The two men stood up and moved over to me and Uncle Jethro

"You do?" 'Tony' asked

"What can you tell us about her?" the other man, I recognised as Tim from the pictures, asked

"How do you know her?" Uncle Jethro asked

"She's a classmate and an Ex-Girlfriend."

"What? How old is she?" Tony asked

"17 years old, we've just graduated high school."

"So I'm going to guess she's not a navy officer or a marine then?" Tim asked, I shook my head

"No, why?"

"When we found her, she was dressed in a naval uniform."

"What do you mean found?"

"Xander." Uncle Jethro said grabbing my shoulders, pulling me around to face him "She's dead Kiddo, I'm so sorry, she was murdered last night." Uncle Jethro explained

"Last night?" he nodded "How?"

"What?"

"How was she murdered?"

"Why do you want to know?" I shifted uncomfortably "Xander, tell me." I glanced around the floor and saw other groups of people were looking at us

"Can we go somewhere more private?" he glanced at the floor and then looked back to me and nodded

"Conference room, DiNozzo, McGee." Uncle Jethro stated, they both nodded and quickly moved up the stairs, Uncle Jethro wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me the same way

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs." a woman in her mid-twenties or early thirties with long black hair and green eyes. She was wearing Gothic clothing and also has her hair tied up in pigtails

"Not now Abs." Uncle Jethro replied as we kept walking

"But Gibbs, I have important information, our Jane Doe isn't a navy officer." 'Abs' responded

"We already know Abs."

"But I have more- "

"I said not now Abs." she shrank back slightly as if she'd never been snapped at, but then suddenly glared at me and stormed off. I frowned slightly but carried on walking up the steps and into the conference room.

He led me into the room with a long table with chairs all around it, uncle Jethro led me over to the table and pushed me to sit in a chair at the head on the table, the two agents sat on my left and uncle Jethro sat to my right.

"You might want to start explaining now, starting with why your face is covered in bruises." Uncle Jethro demanded, I gave him a sheepish look

"I don't suppose 'I was mugged' will work will it?" Uncle Jethro narrowed his eyes

"No, the truth, the whole truth." I sighed and was about to tell the edited version when my phone buzzed, I gave them an apologetic look and pulled it out

 _Tell them the whole truth- Angel_

I smiled slightly, and realized 'who do I have to protect now? They aren't my friends anymore' I put my phone away

"My ex-best friends did this to me, because I told a lie two years ago and they have now just found out."

"Two years? So they did that to you?" Agent DiNozzo asked, I nodded

"Yeah, she wasn't at all pleased."

"She? It was a girl that did this to you?" Agent McGee asked and I nodded again and then told them about the past three years of my life and what had happened. When I had finished two out of the three were giving me disbelieving looks, one of which included Uncle Jethro, the only one who looked like they believed me was Agent McGee

"That is absolutely ridiculous, there is no such thing." Agent DiNozzo yelled standing to his feet

"Tony! After everything we've seen are you really gonna call him a liar?" Agent Mcgee responded

"It doesn't matter what we've seen Mcgee, we've got a case to solve, and sitting here listening to this nonsense, get back to work, both of you." Uncle Jethro order standing and heading for the door without even a glance at me

"No." Agent Mcgee said, standing and tugging on my arm

"What do you mean no?"

"Everything your nephew said to us is true and I won't tell you how I know cause it's not something for the work place, I'm taking Xander home, to my Apartment, I'll be back in tomorrow morning, and if you know what's good for you you'll stay away from my apartment, come on Xander." Agent Mcgee then pulled me out of the room, I could hear footsteps behind us, but daren't look back. He pulled me into the elevator and hit the door close, but Uncle Jethro managed to slip in before the doors shut, and hit the emergency switch, shutting the elevator down

"Tim, what are you doing?" Uncle Jethro asked, blatantly ignoring me

"I told you I'm taking your nephew back to my apartment."

"He needs help, if he thinks that vampires and Demons actually exist then he needs locking up, not coddling." I sighed sadly, and looked to the floor

"Jethro, that is not something you say to your family, especially when they are telling the truth, and if you want to see for yourself you'll go down to autopsy and tell our jane doe that Xander was here, and you called him a liar after he told you the truth about everything."

"Tim, what are you talking about?"

"In fact why don't we all go down now, I'm sure she'll be waking up."

"What?" Agent Mcgee looked at me as I looked up shocked "She-?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry kid, it was no Barbeque fork." I huffed and looked back at the floor, tears gathering in my eyes "Start the elevator Jethro." I heard a quiet huff before the elevator kick started again, I fell against the wall, gripping onto the handle when the doors opened again, I heard yelling and snarling, without thinking I ran, pulling out the cross from under my shirt and holy water from my back pocket, I ran into the room and saw a very naked back of Cordelia snarling at two men, who look like they had just been thrown across the room

"Hey! Cordelia! Why don't you come snack on something more willing!" the snarling stopped and she turned to face me, a vampire face covered her beautiful one

"Xander?" she asked and I nodded, looking straight at her face

"You wanna cover yourself?" she looked down and shrieked before grabbing the sheet and covering herself.

"I've been turned haven't I?" she asked

"Yeah, but I bet your still as beautiful as ever." Her face changed back "Yep, I was right."

"Oh Xander, always the sweet one, come get it over with I'd rather it be done quick before I feast on anyone."

"I wish I didn't have to do this."

"I know, but at least I got a last dance with you." I chuckled

"That was months ago Cordy."

"Oh Right, well at least I know it isn't the slayer killing me off then, you know what she would do."

"I do now, alright then." I knelt down and put the cross on the floor, pulled up my trouser leg and pulled out a stake and stood back up. I walked over to her and hugged her one last time "Goodbye Cordy, Love you always."

"Me too Xander, Look out for Angel for me will ya?"

"Yeah, I'll look out for Dead boy." She giggled and I staked her through the back and pierced her heart, she pecked me on the cheek before she turned to duck in my arms. I sighed and turned back to get my cross to see Uncle Jethro had already picked it up and was holding it out to me, I looked at his face and saw him wearing a sad apologetic look

"I'm sorry kiddo, sorry that I didn't believe you, and I'm sorry about you losing your friend as well." Uncle Jethro said pulling me in for a hug, I gripped the back of his shirt and buried my face in his chest as tears came full force rolling down my cheeks.

"Can I just get out of here please?" I heard him sigh

"Sure Kiddo, Mcgee would you take him home please? To my home?"

"Yeah, want me to come back in?"

"Even though you said you weren't?"

"Gibbs, we can do this later, but right now I think Xander needs some time to grieve." Agent Mcgee stated

"Fine, but no, stay with him, I'll speak to the Director see if we can switch cases with Balboa."

"Alright, I'll take him home." I let go of the back of Uncle Jethro's shirt and he unwrapped his arms from around me "Come on Kid, let's get you out of here." I nodded and Agent Mcgee wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me back to the elevator.

After a ride in an elevator and in a car, Agent Mcgee pulled into a drive and shut the car off.

"Come on Kid, let's get you inside and get you settled." I gave him a nod and we climbed out of the car "Do you want a tour?" I shook my head "Alright, let's get you settled." He guided me upstairs and led to into a room that looked currently to be a guest room "This will be your room; we can get it sorted out later on to suit your needs."

"Thanks Agent Mcgee." He smiled at me

"Not a problem and call me Tim, Agent Mcgee is too formal" I gave him a grin and he smiled back at me "Want me to stay in here with you?" I shook my head

"No thanks Tim, I'd like to be alone for a while." He nods

"Alright I'll be down in the kitchen if you need me." I nod and he leaves the room, I lay on the bed and stare up at the ceiling, debating on how I should contact Angel to tell him what had happened to Cordelia.

Suddenly there was a knock on the bedroom door, I sat up looking at it confused

"Come in." When the door opened and I saw that it was Uncle Jethro, I immediately lowered my head, looking at my lap

"Hey Kiddo, Tim said you'd been up here since he showed you the room." I gave him a single nod and I heard him sigh "Kiddo, please look at me." I saw his feet move closer to me, as the door behind him closed, before he knelt, I slowly raised my head, till I was looking at him.

"Do you want me to leave?" he looked shocked

"No! Of course, not I was just shocked by what happened and what you told me, I've never dealt with the supernatural before, I'm surprised that she didn't throw me across the room." I let out a short chuckle, which made him smile a bit "If you want to leave Xander, I won't stop you, just know you'll always have a home here."

"You want me to stay?"

"Of course, I do kiddo, only if you want to though." I shrugged

"I've got nowhere else to go." He chuckled lightly

"Then welcome home, but we will be having a serious talk about your little adventures."

"So, you're not going to arrest me for breaking into an army base, impersonating a military officer and stealing a rocket launcher?" he barked out a laugh

"As long as you don't do it again."

"Nope, never gonna happen again." He smiled and stood up, patting my shoulder

"Good, now come on, let's go introduce you to Jett properly." I frowned and nodded, standing up from the bed

"Whose Jett?" he grinned as we both left the room and made our way downstairs.

"He and Tim come as a package, and I wouldn't have it any other way." I nodded, still frowning slightly, not remembering reading about a 'Jett' in any of the letters. Uncle Jethro guided me into the kitchen, where I saw Tim looking out the window with a mug in his hand and an open laptop to his right. "You can't stop working, can you?" uncle Jethro asked Tim, making him turn around and smirk

"This coming from you, how are you doing Xander?" Tim asked and I nodded with a smile

"I'm doing okay." He nodded

"Ready to meet Jett? You didn't meet him before." Tim asked and I nod with an apprehensive look on my face, making the other two in the room chuckle, before Tim let out a shrill whistle, seconds later a large German Sheppard came bounding in and sat at Tim's feet.

"Xander, this is Jett, he's an ex-sniffer dog." Uncle Jethro explained, and I nod

"Jett, this is Xander he's Jethro's nephew, he'll be living with us from down on, you'll need to protect him too." Tim said to the dog, Jett then stood on all fours and crept over to me, I knelt and held out my hand for him to sniff, which he did, and he obviously deemed me safe because he was then pouncing on me and licking my face, making me laugh

"Jett!" uncle Jethro shouted, and Jett stopped, whined and got off me, sitting at uncle Jethro's feet, ears flat against his head

"Are you alright Xander? Jett's never don't that before." Tim asked moving forward, and I laughed, sitting up

"I'm fine, it was fun, I've always wanted a dog." I reached out to Jett and he moved forward slowly, butting his head against my hand, I smiled and started fussing him

"As long as you're alright Xander." Uncle Jethro said kneeling down and fussing Jett as well

"I'm fine, but can you call me Alex instead?"

"Why's that?" Tim asked keeling down, patting Jett

"Xander just reminds me of the past is all, Willow called me that when we were in Kindergarten, I don't really want to remember that part of me anymore."

"Understandable, new name, new life, draw a line and start anew." Uncle Jethro said, and I nodded as Jett nuzzled under my chin.

"We'll call you Alex from now on then." Tim said and I nodded

"What do you say to take out tonight?" Uncle Jethro asked as we all got back to our feet, Jett sat at my feet

"Sounds good." Tim responded and I nodded

"Sounds great." Uncle Jethro nods and moves over to the side to pull out some take out menus, before handing them to me "You guy's eat out often?" they chuckled

"We work late and sometimes can't be bothered to cook." Tim responded with a shrug

"You pick Alex, we don't mind what we have." Uncle Jethro said wrapping an arm around Tim's shoulders, I smiled

"Why don't we all choose?"

We all decided on pizza for tonight, and Tim went to get it

"Want to see something cool?" uncle Jethro asked, and I gave him a searching look

"Something cool?" he nods and leads me to the basement "Your something cool is in your basement?" he grins and pushes the door open, Jett ran in and down the stairs, curling up on a large cushion that was next to a large wooden frame "You're building a boat in your basement?" I made my way down the stairs and over to the frame

"What do you think?" I grinned at him, running my hand over the smooth wood

"It's so awesome, but how do you get it out?" he grinned

"Now that's a secret, want to help do some sanding?" I nod and he walks over and picks up two pieces of sanding paper, he gave me a quick lesson and we were soon sanding together in comfortable silence.

We must have been sanding a while, because Tim appeared at the top of the stairs

"Wash up you two, dinner is ready."

"We'll be up in a moment Tim." Uncle Jethro responded as we stopped sanding, I saw Tim nod before disappearing back into the house, I handed the paper to uncle Jethro who took it and told me to go wash. I nod and dashed up the stairs Jett hot on my heals, as I headed for the closest bathroom to clean up, I passed a chuckling uncle as I headed back to the kitchen

"All sorted?" Tim asked as I sat at the table, I nodded "Jethro still in the bathroom?"

"Right here Tim." Uncle Jethro said as he walked in the kitchen and sat down opposite me.

"Great." Tim said before sitting down next to uncle Jethro as we dug in to eat.

That night once we had all finished eating, we went to bed, I went into my room and got changed, I was about to get into bed, when there was a knock on the door, I frowned and turned to open the door to find Tim stood there with Jett wagging his tail

"Sorry Alex, Jett seems to not like letting you out of his sight for long, he refused to come into our room and sat firmly outside your door, would you mind if he slept in with you tonight?" Tim asked, and I shook my head grinning

"Not at all, come on Jett." Jett immediately bounded into the room and jumped up onto the bed, before sitting and looked like he was waiting for me

"Thanks Alex, I'll see you in the morning yeah?" I nod and he smiles heading down the hall, I was about to close the door again when I saw uncle Jethro come up the stairs and towards my room

"Night uncle Jethro." He smiled and kissed my forehead

"Night kiddo, Jett you keep an eye on him yeah?" Uncle said to Jett behind me who barked in agreement "Good, see you in the morning kiddo."

"See you." He smiled and headed down the hall, I closed the door and climbed into bed, Jett darted under the covers as well, and waited until I had gotten comfy before laying down, curling up next to me, with his head on my chest, as if to say 'I'll look after you, I'll protect you.' And for the first time in years, I fell asleep peacefully.

 **A/N: Thanks to everyone who read this chapter, I hope you enjoyed, please let me know what you think, there will be more chapters to come I promise xx Dark xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alex's (Xander) POV**

 **The next day**

I woke up the next morning to someone nudging me, I groaned and rolled onto my side only to get a wet, slobbery lick to the face, I opened my eyes, disgusted, and saw Jett laid there panting happily

"That's really disgusting, you know, that, right?" I asked him sitting up but I only got a bark in response, before he jumped off the bed and bounded up to the door, before spinning in circles in front of it "Do you need to go out?" I asked him and he barked, I got off the bed and wiped my face, as I walked over to the door, I opened it and he bolted out of the room and down the stairs.

I sighed, and looked at the clock, it read 7.15 am, and I groaned, must be a normal routine for Jett to be up at that time. I decided to get a shower since I was already awake, I collected some clothes and headed to the bathroom, I heard voices downstairs and assumed that Uncle Jethro and Tim were awake, well they both had work anyway.

I got a quick shower and dressed, before heading downstairs to the kitchen, I was right uncle Jethro and Tim were awake, they were sat at the kitchen table, both had a mug of coffee, and an open laptop in front of them

"Well Vance can't just dismiss the case because it wasn't a Marine that last died, the others that were killed were Marines, but he's pulling us off this case anyway?" I heard Tim ask, as I hovered in the doorway

"Yep, giving it to Balboa's Team, we're on cold cases for now." Uncle Jethro responded taking a drink of coffee

"So, you want me to transfer everything to Balboa when we get to the Bullpen this morning?" Tim asked again, closing the laptop and picking up his mug

"Probably better if you give it to me, so I can hand it over to Vance, you get your report written up?" Uncle Jethro asked, draining the last of his drink

"When don't I get, my work done on time Jethro?" Tim asked as Uncle Jethro stood from his seat

"Good point." Uncle Jethro responded before turning and spotting me in the doorway "Morning Kiddo, sleep well?" he greeted, making Tim stand from his seat and turn to face us

"Morning Alex." Tim greeted and I smiled

"Morning, and yeah I slept great, better than I have done in a long while, until the wakeup call I got this morning." They both chuckled, as Tim moved over to the stove

"Let me guess, Jett gave you a big slobbery kiss to wake you up this morning?" Tim asked

"Yeah, does he always do that?"

"Only if you don't respond to his nudging, if you respond you don't get slobbered on." Uncle Jethro said as he refilled his mug

"Right, I'll remember that." Uncle Jethro just grinned as he took a drink

"You hungry Alex?" Tim asked, I shrugged

"I could eat."

"Bacon and eggs?" Tim asked moving to the fridge

"Sounds great." He nodded with a smile

"Take a seat." I nodded and took a seat at the kitchen table, and spotted a newspaper, I had a quick look through

"Looking for something in particular?" Uncle Jethro asked as he sat next to me setting a glass on orange juice in front of me, I shook my head

"Nah, it's just become habit now after a couple of years looking for the supernatural in newspapers for any leads, I've just taken up to reading the newspaper in general." He nodded

"As long as you don't go out hunting those things on your own." I shook my head

"It's not my job to do so, I just know what I need to, to be able to defend myself if something like that should attack, there are other people in the world to do that." He nodded and took a drink of his coffee, as Tim walked over with two plates, setting them in front of us

"Enjoy." Tim said walking back to the counter, before walking back over with another plate and sitting down across from me. Our meal was eaten in silence, but once we had all finished uncle Jethro and Tim collected the plates, cups and glasses before heading to wash up before I had even had the chance to offer.

"Alex, I want you to come into work with us today, we won't be doing any major cases, so you'll be okay, and I'd also like for you to get checked over with Ducky as well." Uncle Jethro explained as he washed up the plates and cups, I shrugged

"Alright, who's Ducky?" Tim chuckled, drying a plate

"Ducky is N.C.I. S's medical examiner, he he's the one we go to if we're injured or for out physicals." Tim explained, before putting away the plate he had just dried

"Alright, sounds good, I don't want to be left on my own anyway." I glance at them and they both nodded and resumed what they were doing, as Jett came bounding back in, and immediately detoured to me, sitting, and resting his head on my lap

"Hey Tim, do you ever bring Jett to work?"

"I did one time, but he kept barking at Tony who kept trying to prank me, so the Director at the time decided it wasn't a good idea to bring him to work anymore." Time answered

"So, who looks after him during the day?"

"He looks after the house, and our neighbor comes to let him out every few hours, so he's not cooped up all day." Uncle Jethro responded, I nodded, and continued to pet Jett as the pair got ready for work. My bag was already packed from the day before, with everything in it minus my clothes so I decided to just take that. When the pair came back downstairs Tim moved over to the counter and took the left-over coffee and poured it into two take away mugs, while uncle Jethro locked the back door and turned to me

"Ready to go?" he asked and I nodded as he then collected a take away mug from Tim, I went to collect my bag from upstairs, and met the two at the door

"You two head off, I'll leave the keys with next door." Tim said locking the front door, and uncle Jethro nodded leading me over to one of the parked cars. I climbed into the passenger seat as Uncle Jethro climbed into the driver's seat, and started the car

"Why do you two go in different cars?" I asked as he pulled away from the curb and down the street

"No-one at work knows about Tim and I, we keep it a secret."

"Why?"

"DADT."

"What's DADT?"

"Don't ask, don't tell."

"Is that important?"

"Very, plus the current Director isn't very, what do you say, friendly towards same sex couples, she isn't very friendly to a lot of things at the moment to be honest." I frowned

"But there's nothing wrong with same sex couples, love is love, and it shouldn't matter." He smiled

"Glad you feel that way kiddo, but not everyone has the same mindset as you do."

"I know, but at least we can hope for the future."

"Yes, we can." The rest of the trip to the NCIS building was in a comfortable silence, until we pulled into the garage under the building. Uncle Jethro parked the car and shut it off as we climbed out, we walked through the main entrance and uncle Jethro quickly got me a visitor pass easily enough. We made our to the elevators and uncle Jethro hit the floor button "Once the team gets here, I'll give you a tour of the place."

"Sounds good." He nodded as the elevator doors opened and we stepped out onto the floor, then into the Bullpen, which was empty. Uncle Jethro pulled a chair from an empty desk and set it at the end of his desk

"Have a seat." Uncle Jethro said gesturing to the chair he had just moved over, while he sat in his chair and booted up his computer. I nodded and sat down, pulling out my sketch pad and began drawing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Xander / Alex's Pov**

Tim was the first one to arrive in the Bullpen, he greeted uncle Jethro as Boss, and got to work setting up his work station, while I continued to draw. The next one to arrive was Agent DiNozzo, who threw his bag down and booted up his work station

"See you didn't get locked up in a psych ward then." Agent DiNozzo commented and Uncle Jethro rose from his seat and stormed over to Agent DiNozzo's Desk and delivered a slap round the back of his head

"Hey! That's my nephew you're talking to, and just so you know, everything he said was true, and we have the footage to prove it." Uncle Jethro stated,

"Seriously Boss?" Agent DiNozzo asked and Uncle Jethro nodded in response

"Mcgee."

"Bring up the footage Boss." Tim said immediately going on the computer, fingers flying across the keys, he could have even been faster than Willow, when she was hacking. Tim brought the footage up on the big screen for Agent DiNozzo to watch and I turned back to my drawings, refusing to see Cordelia die before my eyes again.

Uncle Jethro must have understood why I wasn't watching as he placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, I looked up at him and smiled sadly at him.

"Shit, they're real?" Agent DiNozzo breathed and I turned to look at him

"Yep, but don't worry vampires can't enter your property unless you invite them in."

"Really? So I'm safe?"

"As long as you don't live in a hotel, if you do keep a cross and a wooden stake on you at all times, holy water too if you can get your hands on it."

"You do carry all that?" Tim asked and I nodded standing up, I pulled a cross from under my shirt, a small bottle from my front pocket and pulled up my right pant leg to show them the stake I had stashed there

"Never leave home without any of them, but I might start seen as I no longer live in SunnyDale." I sat back down and returned to drawing

"How can you speak about this so calmly?" Agent DiNozzo asked

"Because I've been deeling with this since my Sophomore year, I've had time to come to grips with things, besides Washington D.C is the least likely place you're going to get vicious deamons or vampires."

"You know none vicious ones?" Uncle Jethro asked

"I know one or two, but some deamons can hide in plain sight, and they live everyday lives like you guys."

"There could be deamons in this building?" Agent DiNozzo asked looking around the room

"You're fine, there arent' any deamons here."

"How do you know?" Tim asked

"Because one of them would have come up to me by now asking me for protection in exchange for information."

"And why would they do that?" Uncle Jethro asked

"Because I've been the Slayers White Knight for three years now, every deamon knows me, even though I wish they didn't." Agent DiNozzo then stood up from his seat and walked over to me, before holding out his hand

"Well, I believe you now." He said to me, and I shook his hand smiling

"Thank you, Agent Dinozzo."

"Call me Tony."

"Tony."

"DiNozzo, Mcgee, get started on your reports."

"But boss, we haven't solved the case yet." Tony Argued

"Vance is transferring it over to Balboa's team, so get started then send it to Mcgee so he can send it to Balboa."

"Right boss." Both of them got started working on their reports, as Uncle Jethro tapped me on the shoulder, I looked up at him and he gestured for me to stand up and follow him. I did so and he led me to the elevator.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to see Ducky." The elevator arrived and we stepped inside

"Who's Ducky?"

"He's out Medical Examiner, you saw him briefly yesterday." I nodded remembering the two men in the background while I was facing Cordelia. When the elevator doors opened we stepped out and Uncle Jethro led me into the medical bay.

"Jethro I don't have anything for you, since our last body stood and walked away practically, I'm reviewing my notes from the other bodies." The older man said in a British accent

"Not me you have to report it to anymore Duck, its Balboa's case now." Uncle Jethro responded

"Then what are you doing down here?"

"I need one of you to have a look over my nephew, he's pretty beat up I want to make sure there's no damage." Uncle Jethro responded

"There isn't any uncle Jethro."

"I just want to make sure Kiddo."

"Mister Palmer can do it, I'm a little busy here."

"I'll be back in a while, alright Kiddo?" Uncle Jethro asked, I nodded

"I'll be alright." He nodded and walked out of the room, the doors sliding shut behind him.

"Why don't you come sit over here and I'll have a look over you." The younger man said pointing to the examiners table, I shrugged and made my way over, before hopping onto the table. "Does it hurt anywhere?"

"My ribs hurt a little bit, and my face kind of throbs." He nodded and pulled on some gloves

"I'm just going to have a feel of your face make sure nothing is broken." I nodded and he started to gently press on my face "My names Jimmy by the way, Jimmy Palmer."

"I'm Alexander Harris, Formally Xander, I now go by Alex."

"It's nice to meet you Alex, though I bet you wish it were better circumstances."

"Yep, ah." I felt a sharp pain go through my right cheek bone

"Hmm, you could have a fracture there, but it's too swollen to tell."

"Here, put some ice on it lad, it'll help the swelling go down." The older man said walking over and handing me an ice pack, I took it and held it to my right cheek

"Thank you."

"Not to worry lad, I'm doctor Donald Mallard, but everybody calls me Ducky, you are welcome to call me that as well." I smiled slightly until it hurt

"Nice to meet you." He nodded smiling

"You said your ribs hurt?" Jimmy asked and I nodded "Can you lift up your shirt so we can have a look?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Xander/Alex's Pov**

"Uh, sure, but I'm kinda one handed." He smiled and helped me lift my shirt up and off, as I heard the doors slide open

"Geese, your back looks like someone partyed on it." I heard Tony say, making Ducky and Jimmy walk around the table to look

"Alex what happened?" Jimmy asked, I shrugged

"Probably happened the same time I got all the other injuries."

"Does it hurt lad?" Ducky asked

"Not really."

"Alex, man, that should kill, how does it not?" Tony asked walking around to stand in front of me

"Sophmore year, ring a bell?"

"I get that man, but it should at least hurt a little bit."

"It just doesn't Tony, I have a high pain tolerance, but I'm not using that as an excuse it just doesn't hurt."

"Fair enough man." Tony said as Jimmy came back into view

"Alex, I'm going to feel your ribs now, see if theres any damage." Jimmy said and I nodded and sat up straighter to give him better access to my ribs. I shivered a little when his cold gloves touched my chest

"Anthony did you need something?" Ducky asked him,

"Um, I actually can't remember now, I guess seeing Alex's back made me forget." Tony explained in a sheepish voice, and I chuckled before crying out when Jimmy touched a tender spot "Alex?" Tony asked walk

"It hurts there Alex?" Jimmy asked

"Just a little bit."

"Right then, I suggest wrapping around his chest to keep his ribs secure Mister Palmer, they won't be broken as then he wouldn't be able to move without feeling pain." Ducky said, and Jimmy nodded and moved away to collect some bandages, while Ducky moved into the office, Tony came and stood infront of me

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked and I nodded

"I've had worse Tony, I'll be fine."

"Alright, you let me know if you're in anymore pain, you hear me?" he demanded, I nodded

"I will."

"Good, I'll take you back upstairs when you're wrapped up." I nodded and he stood off to the side when Jimmy came back with the bandages, and began wrapping them around my chest. When he was finished he tied them off and I pulled my shirt back on.

"Try not to do too much damage to them over the next few weeks, it looks like your ribs are only bruised, but there's no need to make the worst alright?" Jimmy asked and I nodded

"Don't worry, I don't plan on making any injuries worse." He nodded and I left Autopsy with Tony after calling thanks over my shoulder. We made it to the elevator in silence, and Tony hid the button for the floor.

"So, you like drawing?" Tony asked suddenly, I looked at him and nodded

"Yeah, I havent' done any active drawing in a few years, so it's kinds nice to be able to do it again."

"Why haven't you done it for a while?" he asked

"My ex-friends caught me drawing one day, while I was waiting for them to turn up to school, they said it was what a gay person would do, and their Xander wasn't gay, so I stopped drawing in front of them, and started dating Cordelia, to try and prove to them that I wasn't gay, they didn't like that, Cordelia knew why, I told her all of it, she played the part really well, I came to love her, as a friend and as a sister." Suddenly the elevator lurched and shutdown, I looked at Tony to see that he had pulled the emergency stop button

"So let me get this straight, you're _friends_ didn't approve of you drawing because they thought it was something gay people did?"

"Yeah."

"That's stupid, just as stupid as you hiding they you're gay, Alex, you shouldn't hide that, ignore what other people think they don't matter, as long as your family accepts you then that should be enough, and I'm tell you right now that Gibbs, Mcgee and I, will all support you, I know for a fact Gibbs and Mcgee would definetly support you, otherwise they'd be hippocrits."

"Wait, you know about them?"

"Of course, they might hide it well at work, but I've worked with them for years, I know them, I support them even if they don't know I do."

"Why don't you tell them you know?"

"Because I don't want to intrude, I'd like to wait until they're ready to tell me, the place is big on DADT, especially with the Director we have currently."

"That Strict?"

"She just doesn't like it I suppose, that's why Gibbs won't say anything, because they used to work together."

"Oh."

"But nevermind that, let's get you back to Gibbs." I nodded and he turned the elevator back on and it continued up to the floor they worked on. When the elevator stopped we stepped out and walked into the bullpen, uncle Jethro was absent from his desk, and Tim was typing rapidly on his computer "Mcgee… Mcgee…. Mcgee!"

"What Tony?!" Tim snapped, stopping his typing looking up at us

"Where's Gibbs?" Tony asked, and Tim shrugged

"I don't know, he was there when I started, the Director wants this done as soon as, so I need to keep working." Tim responded and went back to typing on his computer. Tony turned to me and shrugged

"Why don't you have a seat?" Tony suggested guesturing to uncle Jethro's desk, while he sat at his own desk. I sat at the seat at the edge of the desk and pulled the sketch book towards me and began drawing again.

I had been drawing for a while when uncle Jethro sat down with two takeaway cups, I looked up at him, he smiled at me and ruffled my hair.

"Everything okay Kiddo?" he asked me and I nodded "What did Palmer say?" I shrugged

"Just battered and bruised, I'll recover."

"He also wrapped your chest Alex don't forget." Tony spoke up from his desk

"Why?" Uncle Jethro asked picking up a file, and starting to look through it

"Because I have a tender spot on my ribs, there not broken or fractured, and I'm not to do anything that would make it worse." He nodded

"I'm sure, you'll be careful." I nodded

"I will."

"Good." He took a gulp of his drink and pointed to the cup in front of me "That's for you."

"Thanks." He nodded and turned to do his work, I took a sip of the drink and found out it was hot chocolate, I smiled, and turned back to drawing.

-Two hours later-

It was two hours later that something finally happened, and I had turned to do maths homework instead of drawing, I was part way through the homework when uncle Jethro's phone began to ring

"Gibbs…. I'll be right there." Then he hung up and stood from his seat, but paused and looked down at me and caught me looking at him "I'll be back, I've got to go see the Director." I nodded and he left the bullpen

"What are you working on Alex?" I heard Tim ask from his desk

"Math, aren't you supposed to be working on something?" I asked, turned in my seat to look at him

"Not now, just looking over Cold Cases, I finished the report, it's Tony's turn to do it now." Tim responded

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it." Tony spoke up, typing, when suddenly a door slammed above us, Tim, Tony and I all looked up to see uncle Jethro storming away from the directors office, the Director close on his heels

"Jethro-" the Director started

"This is not up for discussion Jen, he's family!" Uncle Jethro cut her off

"He's not even your blood!" she yelled, and I froze _'Are they talking about me?'_

"You don't know anything Jen! Of course he's my blood!"

"Then have a DNA test to prove it."

"He's my nephew, not my son, and I don't need a DNA test to prove it because I was there."

"You were there when he was consieved Jethro really-"

"No, I was there when my sister gave birth to him, because that husband of hers wouldn't go with her!"

"She's not-"

"She is my sister! As much as I don't appriceiate her way of life, doesn't mean I love her any less, she is my sister and he is my nephew, end of discussion." Uncle Jethro said finally before jogging down the stairs, into the bullpen and straight over to me "Pack your stuff up." I frowned slightly and packed my things away, and rising to stand

"Boss?" Tim asked, making Uncle Jethro turn to him

"Carry on with Cold Cases, and reports, I'll be back when I can." Uncle Jethro responded and Tim nodded, gave me a nod and returned to his work. Uncle Jethro wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me to the elevator

"Jethro where are you going?!" the Director demanded

"I'm taking my nephew home and away from you Jen, he doesn't need to hear anymore of this." Uncle Jethro responded, gritting his teeth, and hitting the call button for the elevator.

"You can't just leave!" She yelled, uncle Jethro removed his arm from around me and spun around to face her

"Watch me." Then he pulled me into the elevator and pressed the button to close the doors before the Director to step in, he then hit the ground floor button, before hitting the emergency switch as we began moving, making the elevator shut down, before uncle Jethro punched the closed doors for the elevator.

"Uncle Jethro?" he took some deep breaths before turning to face me

"I'm sorry you had to hear that Alex, Jen has always had a problem when it came to my family."

"As long as none of what she said it true, then I don't really care what she has to say, you Tim and Tony have been a better family to me in one day than my mother or father has, and I'm really greatful for that." He smiled and pulled me into a hug

"Come on, let go get some lunch then I'll take you back home." I nodded as we pulled out of the hug and uncle Jethro set the elevator going again.

We stopped for burgers on the way back to the house, eating quickly we were soon on our way back to the house.

"You'll be alright looking after Jett, won't you?" Uncle Jethro asked, I nodded

"Of course, I don't want to keep you from your job, I'll look after Jett." He chuckled

"More like Jett'll look after you." I grinned

"We'll look after each other." He nodded as he pulled into the driveway of his house.

"Come on then." We climbed out of the car and walked up the porch, uncle Jethro unlocked the door and stepped in first "Jett Sit, in you come Alex." I stepped into the house and shut the door, only for Jett to jump up and knock me over licking my face. I laughed trying to push him off me

"Jett, stop, alright, I missed you too." At that he got off and sat next to me, gave out a little bark, started wagging his tail, with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

"Jett, sure loves you Alex." Uncle Jethro said holding out a hand, I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet

"Yeah, sure looks like that huh?" he chuckled and pointed to the living room

"Remotes are all on the table, Jett isn't allowed on the furntiture, don't let the puppy eyes fool you." I grinned at the whine Jett gave "Foods in the kitchen if you get hungry, but it's Tim's turn to cook tonight, so I would't snack too much." I nodded

"Right." He nodded and patted my shoulder

"Oh and DVD's are in the cupboard to the side of the tv stand." I nod and he heads out of the house, suddenly Jett dashes into the kitchen and I heard a bell ringing soon after. I frowned and followed after Jett to see him at the back door, with a bit of rope in his mouth that held a bell, I chuckled as his tail began wagging

"You need to go out huh?" he dropped the rope and barked, I chuckled and opened the back door for him to run out. I then walked into the kitchen and sat on a stool pulling out my phone, I spotted a business card in an evidence bag on the table and walked over to pick it up "Angel investigations? Could it be Deadboy? I'll ring and see." Putting the number in my phone I dialed it rang until, it picked up on the other end

 _Angel investigations, we help the helpless_

A male british voice answered, I recognized that voice

"Wesley?"

 _Xander? Why are you calling?_

"It's Alex actually now, I was calling to see if this was a number I could use to et in touch with deadboy."

 _Why do you want to get in touch with Angel?_

"I just need to talk to him Wesley, is he there?"

 _-Yeah Alex, I'm here, what do you need?-_ Angel answered, obviously taking the phone from Wesley

"It's, well it's about Cordelia."

 _-We've been trying to get in touch with her, is she with you?-_

I sighed, tears gathering in my eyes, I pulled the phone away from my ear for a moment to collect myself again. I heard a whine and glanced down seeing that Jett was back inside looking up at me with sad eyes, I quickly closed the door and sat down on the kitchen floor, leaning against the cupboards with my phone in my hand and Jett laid down next to me, with his head in my lap. I put the phone back to my ear,

 _-Alex? Alex? Are you alright? Can you hear me? Alex?!-_

"Yeah Angel I can hear you, sorry I had to let my uncle's dog back in."

 _-At least you're alright, now about Cordelia, is she with you? We really need her here-_

"Angel, Cordy…She's dead." I felt the tears gathering again

 _-What?-_

"She was turned, I had to stake her."

 _We could have put her soul back Xander! How could you do that?_

The tears that had gathered fell down my face, at the guilt I already felt for killing her

 _-Shut up Wesley! Doyle get him out of here! … Sorry about that Alex-_

"It's fine, I understand that the spell could have been done, but she was in a public place, she asked me to do it, I didn't want to-"

 _-Alex, calm down, you did good, Cordy would have never wanted to live if she had been turned, we both know that-_

"Yeah, she didn't try to hurt anyone, she might have thrown some medical exminers across the room, but she never went to eat them, it was like she was still her, still our Cordy."

 _-Even if she did still have her soul, She wouldn't have wanted this life Alex, you did the right thing-_

"Thanks."

 _-How are you doing?-_

"I wish she had never come to D.C, wish she would have stayed with you, then I would have known she would have been alive."

 _-She went to find your uncle-_

"What?"

 _-She knew you had an uncle in D.C, she didn't want you staying in SunnyDale anymore and was going to tell your uncle to go get you-_

"I'm kinda glad then, I finally met my uncle, it was how I knew Cordy was dead."

 _-I'm gonna guess and say you're not in SunnyDale anymore then?-_

"No, I'm in D.C, can't go back to Sunnydale."

 _-Why not?-_

"Buffy found out that I lied to her, when Willow was doing the re-ensoulment spell, I wanted her to give it her all, and hurt you, like you hurt Giles, hurt all of us."

 _-I'm glad you did Alex, I knew that you had lied when I came back, but I never said anything-_

"I'm kinda glad you didn't." I heard him chuckle on the other side on the line "Hey Angel?"

 _-Hmm?-_

"How did you know to message me yesterday?"

 _-That's a long story-_

"I've got time." He chuckled again

 _-You really want to sit and talk on the phone with me?-_

"Like I said, I've got time."

 _-Alright, this is the work line, so let me call you back on my personal line-_

"Okay." Then the line went dead, I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked down at Jett who whined, I smiled and petted his head "I'm alright Jett, I promise." He gave me a look as if to say 'I don't believe you' and I grinned and scratched behind his ears. Suddenly my phone rang, it was a number I didn't recognize, I answered it

"Hello?"

 _Alex, it's Tim, Jethro wanted me to call you and say we might be later than we thought tonight_

"Why's that?"

 _A case has come in, we're on our way to the crime scene now, if we're not back by dinner time, Jett's food is on the side and just give him a cup full into his bowl, that'll do him, and you just make yourself something, or there is money at home if you want to order something_

"Okay Tim, thanks, good luck on your case." I heard him chuckle

 _That depends on the type of case we've got, but I'll bank the luck Alex_

"See you later Tim."

 _See you_

Then the line went dead, I grinned nd got up from the kitchen floor, and headed into the living room, sitting on the sofa, whilst Jett went to curl up in his bed, I kicked my shoes off and curled up on the sofa and began to reach for the remote when my phone began to ring again. I looked and saw another number I didn't recognize and I answered

"Hello?"

 _-Alex, it's Angel-_

"Oh, for a moment I thought you weren't going to call back."

 _-I couldn't get through, I think your phone was on another call-_

"Yeah, sorry, I was talking to my uncle's partner."

 _-That's fine-_

"So, how did you know to message me yesterday?"

 _-I have someone who works for me called Doyle, he has visions that help us find people who need help-_

"I needed help then?"

 _-I suppose so, and it mustn't have been too bad as Doyle's headache wasn't as bad as when he gets ones about demons-_

"He get's visons about demons?"

 _-Yeah, he said it was a gift from the Powers that Be, but we think it's more of a curse, especially with how bad the visons can get-_

"Right….So you've got an investigation business?" I heard him chuckle

 _-Ran out of things to say?-_

"Kinda." I heard him chuckle again

 _-Yes, I own an investigation business, it was Cordelia's idea actually-_

"Really?"

That strung up a convisation about his business, and old stories from our times in Sunnydale, with Cordy. We spoke for a few hours, when I suddenly noticed the time

"Hey, I've just notice what time it is, I need to feed Jett and myself." I heard him chuckle

 _-Who's Jett?-_

"My Uncle's and his Partners dog, they've got to work late tonight so asked me to feed him."

 _-Alright, I need to get back to work anyway, paperwork is not all it's chalked up to be-_ I grinned

"Well, It was nice talking to you Angel."

 _-Likewise Alex-_

"I'll talk to you another time."

 _-Bye Alex-_

"Bye." We hung up the line, and I stood from the sofa, Jett, who had been asleep, perked up "Come on Jett." He bounded over to me and we walked into the kitchen, I put down his food, that he immdietaly began eating, whilst I looked for something to eat myself.

I decided to make myself a sandwich as I wasn't feeling all that hungry, and ate it quickly, when I was finished I washed my plate up and Jett's bowl, who had finished his meal as well, before he dropped a ball at me feet. I grinned at him and leant down to pick it up

"Come on Jett, lets go play ball." I took him outside with the ball and we played fetch for a while. It was some time later when it had gotten darker and the porch lights had come on that I heard calls from inside the house.

"Alex?" I heard uncle Jethro call

"Jett?" I heard Tim call, making Jett perk up and start wagging his tail, I chuckled and turned to the door

"We're out here." A few seconds later they appeared at the door

"Hey Kiddo, didn't expect you to still be up." Uncle Jethro commented reaching down to pet Jett on the head, before moving over to me and pulling me into a hug.

A/N: Hey everyone, sorry about the huge delay on new chapter, but I've started a new job so I'm working a lot more now, and don't have as much time to write new chapters, so I thank everyone who had been extremely patient with me, I hopefully with be putting more chapters up for my on going stories in the near future, I'm hoping to get some more chapters up this week, and also another new chapter for this story too. So again thank you for being patient and i hope you continue to be patient while I write new chapters. Thank you again xx Dark xx


	5. Chapter 5

**Alex's Pov**

I hugged him back, and clung to the back of his shirt "Everything okay Kiddo?"

"I spoke to someone about Cordelia."

"Why don't we go inside and talk about it?" Tim asked, I nodded and let go of uncle Jethro's top, he pulled back from me, but he kept an arm wrapped around my shoulders, we walked inside and sat down at the kitchen table, Tim brought Jett in and shut and locked the back door, before sitting down across from me. Uncle Jethro patted my shoulder and moved to the counter to make some hot drinks, I sat there thinking over the conversation I had, just had with Angel, when suddenly a hot chocolate was set in front of me, I looked up and saw uncle Jethro sitting down next to Tim. I wrapped my hands around the mug and brought it closer to me

"Who did you speak to?" Tim asked

"An old friend, he was cordelia's boss, he runs an investigation business, Cordelia had been working for him, we didn't used to friends though." I chuckled

"What changed your mind?" Uncle Jethro asked, I grinned

"He sort of grew on me, he was always around, helping us with the different demons."

"So he knews about it all?" Tim asked before taking a drink from his mug

"I don't see why he wouldn't, he's a vampire after all."

"You were working with a vampire?" Uncle Jethro asked, I nodded

"He has a soul and believe me, for a long time I refused to trust him because he was a vampire, but no one would listen to me, one day I left the library early, no-one was listening to what I had to say, I headed home and I got ambushed by a group of vampire, they quickly disarmed me of my stake and they were moving in for the kill, but Angel was there, he took them all out and then made sure I was alright, he walked me home, the next day he approached me in the library, pulled me to the side and offered me some training, self defense and combat, I agreed and since then we had been working together, then he lost his soul, and then he went to hell and then he came back."

"Wait, he lost his soul? How did he lose it?" Uncle Jethro asked

"How did he get his soul in the first place?" Tim asked

"When he was first created, he was without his soul for years he was known as the Scourge of Europe, until one day he pissed off the wrong people… he drained the blood of a gypsy daughter, and the clan wasn't pleased, so they cursed him with a soul, with a clause."

"A clause? What did it entail?" Tim asked

"If Angel had a moment of true happiness, he would lose his soul."

"A moment of true happiness?" Uncle Jethro asked

"He slept with Buffy, his moment of true happiness."

"I get it." Unce Jethro said and took a gulp of coffee

"So what happened next?" Tim asked, I shrugged

"Angelus became reater fixated on me, he started at first with Buffy, but she was too invested in how good the sex was, he didn't like that, but his fixation on buffy was also the after affects of the curse wearing off, then he turned his attention to me."

"Did he hurt you?" Uncle Jethro asked, a stoney look on his face

"No, he didn't, which was the strange thing, he seemed to go out of his way to impress me, showing off, protecting me from other vampires and roaming demons and he bought me gifts."

"Gifts?" Tim asked, raising an eyebrow

"Yeah, he bought me clothes, comics, he drew drawings for me and left them all in the place where we would train together, he actually caught me off guard one day in the training place."

"By doing?" Uncle Jethro asked

"By being there one day, I knew Buffy was getting ready to go and face Angelus, she didn't know about the gifts or the training place, but he was planning something big, end of the world big, I didn't know if I would make it out alive, and he had taken Giles, I didn't know what to think or do, I went there and intended to do some training, when I got there, he was there, he was sat waiting for me, I went to leave."

"I sense a but coming." Tim muttered against the edge of his mug

"But he begged me to wait, for me to listen, he promised he wasn't going to hurt me and if he did he would walk into the sun and kill himself… so I waited, and he started to explain everything, why he was doing it all, when he finished talking I asked him why he took Giles, he told me that he needed answers and only Giles had them, told me that he would let Giles go as soon as he had the answers he wanted… I asked him about the gifts and he told me I deserved them, I needed them and that it was his right at my mate to provide these things for me."

"Mate?" Uncle Jethro asked

"You're his mate?" Tim asked, I nodded and took a drink from my now luke warm hot chocolate

"What happened next?" Uncle Jethro asked, I sighed

"He explained to me what it meant being his mate, told me how cherished I would be with him, how much I deserved to be cherished, one thing led to another and we slept together."

"You slept with him?" Tim asked, I nod

"I fell asleep afterwards, when I woke up he was gone and in his place was a drawing, of me, he drew me while I was sleeping… I left the place after I had a shower and found out Giles and Willow was in the hospital, Willow had tried the resouling spell, and Buffy had sent Angelus to hell and the skipped town."

"I thought you said she was the slayer." Tim said, I nodded

"I did."

"And she just abandoned her post?" I nodded

"I picked up the slack, with Oz we patrolled and kept Sunnydale safe, a week before school was due to start again Buffy returned, things were tense but we got along, a few months after that Angel returned."

"Angel? Not Angelus?" Uncle Jethro asked, I shook my head

"Angelm the ensoulment spell worked, his soul was back in place and after a few weeks of recoperation he was back up and fighting with us again, he also started up a relationship."

"With you?" Tim asked, I shook my head

"With Buffy, they restarted it."

"What about what happened between the two of you?" Uncle Jethro asked, I sighed

"There was nothing, no sign that he even remembered what he did during the time he was Angelus, it was like it never happened."

"Oh Alex." Tim sighed and reached out to squeeze my hand, I smiled at him

"I kept it quiet, everything Angeus got me I packed up into a box and hid it away so, no-one would find it, I think it's still in my car."

"You never told anyone." Uncle Jethro stated, I shook my head

"How could I? to everyone else, he was terrorizing them, he left me alone, how could I tell them I'd been falling for their enemy, slept with him, and fell hard for Buffy's Boyfriend / Ex-boyfriend?" I sighed

"And he still shows no sign or remembering anything?" Tim asked, I shrugged

"He left not long after graduation, he didn't show any signs then, I've not seen him since, but he's not reached out to me either, to say he does remember."

"Well, it's his loss if he doesn't remember." Tim said drining the last of his drink, as did I and so did uncle Jethro

"Its getting late, we should head to bed." Uncle Jethro said, I nodded and stood and took my mug over to the sink, I rinsed the mug out and set it in the sink to be washed tomorrow, I then turned and gave both Tim and Uncle Jethro a hug and wished them goodnight before heading up to bed, Jett trotting slowly behind me.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alex's Pov**

The next morning I woke up to Jett nudging me, I rolled over intent to ignore him, when I revieved a wet slobbery kiss to my face.

"Uh, Jett." I wiped it from my face and opened my eyes to look at him, I received a litte bark in response, I sighed and climbed out of be to open the door, Jett dashed downstairs and I shut the door behind him, I climbed back into bed wanting to see if I got a few more hours of sleep, when my phone starting ringing, I groaned and sat up again and picked up my phone, I saw the time 6.23 am, I huffed and them looked at who was calling, it was a number I didn't recognize, I frowned and answered it

"Hello?"

 _-Alex? I'm sorry did I wake you?-_

"Angel?"

 _-Yeah, I take it you didn't save my number in your phone?-_

"No, I forgot to, but don't worry about waking me up Jett already took care of that." I heard him chuckle down the line

 _-Did you wake up to a wet kiss?-_

"I received one after I didn't sit up once he had nudged me awake." I heard him laugh "Did you need something? I figure there was a reason as to why youre calling this early."

 _-Kinda, there is a demon problem, but don't worry I can take care of it, it's actually information that I need-_

"Information? What kind?"

 _-There is a demon who works at NCIS, where your uncle works, he knows about this demon, he's selling children Alex, the demon at NCIS has information on the ring leader-_

"And you want me to get it for you?"

 _-Please Alex? If I could come and do it myself I would, I really would-_

"Okay, give me a name."

 _-Kipner, that was all I was able to get and that he works at NCIS-_

"If this turns out ot be some kind of set up."

 _-If it is, it's not set up by me I promise-_

"Alright, I'll get back to you as soon as I have something."

 _-Thank you Alex-_

"Yeah, yeah." I then hung up the phone and looked at the screen "What I woudn't do for you Angel." I sighed and dropped the phone onto my bed and quickly got dressed, grabbed my phone and dashed downstairs almost running into uncle Jethro

"Woah, where's the fire kiddo?" he asked, I shook my head

"There isn't one, I just wanted to see if I could come into work with you today?" he raised an eyebrow

"Any reason why?" I shrugged

"Exploration." He gave me a long look before nodding

"Tim already left, I was just coming to see if you were up since Jett came dashing downstairs."

"Yeah he woke me up." He nodded and then patted my shoulder

"Hurry up and get ready, we leave in ten." I nod and he walks past me and disappears upstairs. I walked over to the door and pulled on my trainers, I then walked into the kitchen and put some bread in to the toaster, then I walked over to the fridge and opened the door, I looked inside and found some fresh orange juice, I pulled the carton out and found a glass in one of the cupboards and poured the glass half way full of orange juice, before putting the cartoon back into the fridge.

The toast popped just as uncle Jethro walked into the kitchen

"I hope you don't mind that I poured myself some juice?" he chuckled and shook his head

"Not at all, help yourself." I nod and point at the toast

"Do you want a slice?" he looked over at the toaster and then looked back at me

"Are you having the other slice?" I nodded and he turned to pull out the butter from the fridge and handed it over to me, I took it and took the slices of toast from the toaster and buttered them, I handed one over to uncle Jethro, he took it and began to eat it, I ate half of mine and downed the half glass of orange juice and finished my slice of toast. I quickly rinsed out the glass and set it in the sink to be washed later and turned to face uncle Jethro who had finished his slice of toast "Ready to go?" I nodded

"Has Jett been let out?"

"I let him out as soon as he came dashing downstairs, he's curled up in the living room." I nodded and he turned and headed to the front door, I sighed and followed after him, I passed Jett's bed and gave Jett and pat on the head as I passed him

"Be good Jett." He let out a little bark and curled back up in his bed, I grinned and hurried out the door and passed uncle Jethro who was stood just outside the front door, grinning. I smiled and walked over to the car as he locked the door and followed behind me, he walked to the drivers side and climbed in, I took a quick breath and climbed in as well.

It was a quiet drive to the NCIS building, uncle Jethro parked in the parking lot under the building and climbed out

"You coming Kiddo?" he asked me, I nodded and climbed out, shutting the door behind me, he shut his door and locked the car, shoving the keys into his pocket, he walked around to the front of the car, I walked around and stood next to him and together we walked into the building, passing by security to get me a visitors pass, we got into the elevator and headed up to the bullpen "Are you okay Alex? You seem a bit distant." I glanced at him and nodded

"I'm okay, just hoping your boss doesn't go off at you again." He chuckled

"Don't you worry about her and don't you listen to anything she has to say about us, what she said yesterday was wrong, and it certainly shouldn't have been shouted out across the bullpen either." I sighed and nodded, the elevator suddenly stopped as he hit the emergency stop button, he then grasped my shoulder and turned me to face him "Hey, don't worry, you're my nephew, I held you when you were born, so I know you're my sisters son, whatever she says, she's wrong, trust me and ignore her alright?" I nod and he pulls me in for a quick hug, I hug him back and he then lets go and ruffles my hair "Now let's get to the bullpen so you can explore." I grinned and he set the elevator going again, too floors later the doors opened, a younger man stepped into the elevator and he froze as the doors slid shut behind him

"Agent Gibbs." The young man greeted, his eyes flickering to uncle Jethro and back to me

"Kipner, which floor?" uncle Jethro asked, my eyes widened slightly, but then let my face return to neutral as he turned to look at the floor buttons

"That floor actually, Agent Gibbs." Kipner responded, uncle Jethro nodded and the elevator fell into silence, until the elevator came to a stop on the bullpen floor, the door slid open and Kipner hurried out, uncle Jethro and I followed a steady pace right into the bullpen. Kipner was talking quietly to Tim and handing over a file of some kind, uncle Jethro sat down at his desk and booted up his compter as Kipner turned and spotted me, he squeaked and dashed off

"Did you do something to Kipner Alex?" Tim asked, frowning I shook my head

"Today is the first I've met him, I'll be right back." I quickly hurried after Kipner, I saw him hurriedly pressing the elevator call button, he caught sight of me and made a dash for the stairs, I huffed

"The things I do for you Angel." I quickly hurried after him, he'd made it down two flights of stairs by the time I caught up to him "Wait!" I grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him to a stop outside the door that led to the 32 floor, he suddenly pulled from my grasp and dropped to his knees

"I beg of you White Knight, spare me, I have done no-one any harm." Kipner begged

"Kipner, what are you talking about?" he stopped

"You're here to kill me aren't you?" he asked, I sighed

"Stand up." I lent down and grabbed hold of his hand, I pulled him to his feet and he cringed "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're not?" I shook my head

"No, you seem peaceful enough, and you say you've not hurt anyone and I believe you." He sighed

"Then why are you here?"

"Agent Gibbs is my uncle, I live with him now."

"You don't live in SunnyDale anymore?" I shook my head "Oh thank God, you don't work for the slayer anymore."

"No, never again."

"So what do you want with me?"

"I come on behalf of Angel Investigations." He looked at me shocked

"You're here for Angel?" I nodded "I thought you two hated each other." I shrugged

"We have an agreement." He nodded

"Fair enough, so what does Angel need?"

"Angel says, you have informations on a Demon who's selling children in L.A."

"Oh, him, well, I can't help you bye." He quickly tried to make a quick dash away, but I managed to grab hold of his arm and push him up against the wall

"Seriously, as much as I hate unpeaceful demon, I hate demons who sell or kill children more, so peaceful or not, you will be giving me that information." Kipner gulped as I moved my hand to my hip, as if I were going to go for my knife, he held his hands up in a universal surrender pose

"Alright, alright White Knight, his name is Baldack he usually takes children who are unwanted or orphans, you know children who wont be missed." I frowned

"The doesn't make it any better." He nodded frantically

"Of course not! He's be getting more erratic, taking children from their bed, from families."

"What does he do with them?"

"He doesn't kill them."

"That's not what I asked."

"He keeps them locked up, in cages, an old warehouse down at the Piers in L.A, he has three Warehouses, to throw people off he uses a different one each time, to make sure he doesn't fall under suspicsion, obviously it hasn't worked."

"Obviously, what will he do with the children?"

"He'll auction them off to the highest bidder, after that, the children are in the hands of that bidder."

"When's the Auction?"

"Tonight, midnight at his second warehouse, you'll get this information to Angel right? He'll get those children out?" I nodded

"Yeah, I'm gonna tell him." I stepped away from him and dropped my hadn away from my hip, he sighed a breath of relief "By the way." I lifted up my shirt to reveal my left hip "I have no weapons on my person." He shrugged

"You don't need a weapon to be a danger to me, but at least I know I'm save here, if the Slayer ever comes knocking, can I count on you to keep me safe?" I grinned and dropped my shirt

"Don't worry, you have my protection." He nodded with a smile, he then patted my shoulder and hurried on down the stairs. I sighed and pulled out my phone, I quickly found Angel's number and dialed, putting the phone to my ear

 _-This Is Angel's Phone, can I ask who's calling?-_

"This is Alex, who's this?"

 _-This is Doyle, who's Alex?-_

"Look, is Angel there I really need to speak with him."

 _-Nope sorry, he's out-_

I pulled the phone away from my ear and growled in frustration, before putting it back to my ear

"Look, will you just tell him that Alex called, I have some information for him." I then hung up the phone and shoved it back into my pocket and slumped against the wall. I sighed and slumped down I rested my arms on the top of my knees and hung my head, when suddenly a pair of feet entered my line of view. I glanced up and saw uncle Jethro crouched down in front of me

"You want to explain to me what's going on?" he asked, I shook my head

"Not really."

"Well then, let me rephrase that, tell me what that was all about." I sighed

"Something demon." He huffed

"In detail please."

"Angel called me this morning, there's this big thing going down in L.A, he told me Kipner had information about it, asked me to get it and relay it back to him."

"Why Kipner?"

"Kipner's a demon, he's peaceful and not a threat, unless his life is at risk."

"Okay, so you got the information?"

"Yep, tried to relay it to Angel, someone called Doyle picked up his phone, told me Angel wasn't in."

"And you're sat on the floor why?"

"Just destressing I guess, I hate information gathering, it normally involves threatening of some sort."

"Is that why Kipner was afraid of you?"

"No, he thought I was here to kill him under the orders of the Slayer, I'm not, he's peaceful and I believe him when he said he hasn't hurt anyone, I gave him my protection."

"Against?"

"If the Slayer ever comes knocking for him, he's got the White Knight protection." Uncle Jethro nodded

"This is why you wanted to come to work with me today?" I nodded

"I'm sorry I wasn't completely honest with you, I didn't know how it would play out, and I certainly didn't think that I was going to find him this quickly."

"Why didn't Angel do it himself? Why did he have to drag you into this?" I shrugged

"Angel is in L.A, he didn't want to pull me into this, he had no other choice."

"When is this thing happening?" Uncle Jethro asked

"Tonight, at midnight." He nodded and stood up, he held out his hand to me

"Come on kiddo, there's no point moping here, there's plenty of time for Angel to get back in touch, or you could try calling him in an hour or so, besides, I have people I want you to meet." I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet.

"You mean besides Jimmy, Ducky, Tony, Tim and Jett?" He chuckled and pushed the door open to foor 32, we walked onto that floor and towards the elevator.

"You've still got to meet our final team member, she'll be back at the end of the week." He pressed the call button for the elevator

"Okay, so where are we going now?"

"I'm taking you to meet Abby, you saw her briefly the day you arrived." He explained, I nodded and thought back 'Was she the one who glared at me?' I shrugged as the elevator door opened, we stepped inside and he hit one of the lower number buttons. "Now brace yourself, Abby likes to play her music loud." I nodded and the elevator doors slide open, I heard the music straight away.

"That is loud." I head uncle chuckle as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me into the lab.

"Abbs!" Uncle Jethro shouted, trying to get her attention "Abby!" that got her attention and the music shut off

"I haven't got anything for you, you don't have a case anyway Gibbs." She huffed

"I thought you got a case last night?" I asked looking up at uncle Jethro, who shook his head

"Long story kiddo, Abby I'm here to introduce you to my nephew." She suddeny spun around to face us

"You mean Alexander is here?" she asked, uncle nodded "Well where is he?" Uncle Jethro squeeze my shoulders

"Abby, this is my nephew Aex." She looked at me and frowned, then I heard Uncle Jethro's phone ring, he dropping his arm from around my shoulder and pulled out his phone, he glanced at me and said "I'll be right back." Then he left the lab

"You? You're the kid from the other day, the one that ruined my information delivery." She growled, I shrugged

"I'm sorry?"

"You made my silver haired fox ignore me!"

"I, um, didn't mean to?"

"Gibbs never ignores me!" she yelled and the turned away from me to move over to her work bench 'Oh, she means Uncle Jethro'

"Look, I didn't mean to make him ignore you, I've come to live with my uncle, I don't want any trouble." She swung back around to face me and shoved a swab in my direction

"Do a DNA test!" she demanded, storming closer to me

"For what reason?"

"You're not related to Gibbs at all." She stopped right in front of me and shoved the swab close to my mouth, I frowned and my phone began to ring, I stepped back from her and pulled my phone from my pocket, I saw it was Angel calling, I glanced back at Abby who was waving the swab around in my direction

"I don't have to listen to this." I turned away from her and headed out of the lab

"Don't walk away from me!" She yelled as Uncle Jethro appeared back at the doorway

"What's all this shouting about? Alex?" Uncle Jethro asked

"I've got to pick this up, oh, she's demanding I take a DNA test." I saw him frown as I left the lab and went to stand by the elevator and answered the call "Who phoning?"

 _-It's me Alex, I'm sorry I didn't answer before, I'm sorry Doyle answered in my place-_

"You don't take your phone with you anywhere?"

 _-I forgot to pick it up, did you get the information?-_

"Tonight at midnight, he's got 3 warehouses by the docks, you best check them all."

 _Thank you Alex, I know I put you out, I'll make it up to you-_

I sighed and hung the phone up.

"I doubt it."

"Everything alright Alex?" Uncle Jethro asked, I turned to face him

"Yeah, it was Angel that called, I told him the information and he told me he'd make it up to me, but I doubt that he will." He gave me a sad look before wrapping an arm around my shoulders

"Come on, we'll go get a drink and then go back to the Bullpen." I nod and we step into the elevator that had just opened

"Did you press the call button?" Uncle Jethro chuckled and dropped his arm

"Yeah." I grin and then let it fall into a small frown

"So, that DNA Test Abby was demanding?" I heard him growl slightly

"I'm getting really annoyed at people asking me for that." I grinned

"Maybe we should do one, then it will prove to everyone that we are family." He frowned

"Are you sure Alex?" I nodded

"I'd rather we did one and got it over with, so no-one can say we're not family anymore." He sighed

"If that's what you want Alex."

"I'd prefer it at least." He nodded

"We'll do it tomorrow then." I nodded

"Should we press a floor button?" Uncle Jethro chuckled and turned to press a floor button, making the doors slide close.


	7. Chapter 7

**Alex's Pov**

We left the building and went to the coffee shop, Uncle Jethro got a coffee and got me a hot chocolate both in a takeaway cup. We then went back to the NCIS building and rode the elevator up to the Bullpen in content silence.

"You can sit at that desk Alex, we're on cold cases today." Uncle Jethro said, pointing to the empty desk behind Tim's Desk, the seperater between the two desks. I shrugged and sat down at the desk, while Uncle Jethro sat down at his own desk.

"Do you need anything Alex? I need to run downstairs anyway." Tim asked as he rounded the separator carryingsome files

"Um, some pencils and sketch book, if you can find and or spare them please." Tim chuckled

"I'll see what I can manage for you." Tim responded with smile, I smiled and he walked off towards the elevator

"You like to draw Alex?" I heard Tony ask

"Yeah, I used to draw al the time, I stopped not long after Buffy started at SunnyDale High."

"Why'd you stop Kiddo?" Uncle Jethro asked

"Buffy didn't approve of me drawing, Willow and Jesse liked the pictures that I drew, but then Buffy came, Jesse died and Willow stopped liking my drawings and Buffy hated it, it wasn't manly enough for her, she um, she stole my sketch books one day after I refused to stop drawing, she made me watch as she destroyed them, all of them." I looked down at the syrofoam cup in my hands

"That's cruel." Tony commented

"Alex, why don't you come sit on this desk over here?" Uncle Jethro asked, I nodded and stood up taking my drink with my to the empty desk across from Tony, who grinned at me as I sat down in the chair and set my drink on the desk.

"So, what do you, or did you like to draw?" Tony asked

"Anything I could think of, or anything I could see." He nodded

"That's cool." Tony responded

"I'd like to see some of your drawing some time kiddo, let's hope Mcee can find you something." Uncle Jethro said as he started to look through the files on his desk and Tony followed suit. I drank my drink and swung the chair round in circles, stopping when Tim appeared carrying a book and some pencils.

"You're in luck Alex, I managed to find one of our old style sketch books, it's completely blank and we don't use this style anymore, so, it's all yours." Tim said handing the book over to me and the pencils too, I looked up at him and smiled

"Thank you Tim." He nodded with a smile of his own, before he sat down at his own desk and began working again. I grinned and set the book down and turned to the first blank, clean page, I picked up the sketching pencils and began to draw.

About an hour later my phone began to ring, I stopped sketching and pulled my phone out and saw it was a number I didn't recognize, I frowned

"Problem Alex?" Uncle Jethro asked

"Just a number I don't recognize." I glanced over at uncle Jethro to see him looking at Tim, who was shaking his head

"It couldn't be, they wouldn't know about him this quickly." Tim responded

"You sure?" Uncle Jethro asked him

"Positive, answer it Alex." Tim responded, I nodded and answered

"Hello?"

 _-Took you damn long enough! What the hell did you tell Angel?!-_

"What? Who the hell is this?"

 _-The names Doyle, remember! Hey!-_

 _-Xander, it's Wesley, we need to know what you told Angel-_

"Wes? What? Why do you need to know?"

 _-Because he's gone off on his own, please tell us-_

"Don't you people communicate? How did you know it was me that gave him the info anyway? Minus me just tell you then that is."

 _-Enough with the damn questions! Tell us what you told him, unless you want him dead like Cordelia!-_

 _-Doyle!-_

"Cordelia's death wasn't my fault, you have no right to accuse me of being the cause!"

"Alex?" Tim asked

"Kiddo, everything alright?" Uncle Jethro asked, I glanced over and nodded

 _-Just tell us!-_

"You know you're really rude, but only cause Wes is there will I tell you, tonight at midnight, 3 warehouses by the docks."

 _-Which docks?!-_

"I don't know, I wasn't told, you figure it out." I then hung up and huffed

"Who was that? Did they really accuse you of being the cause of Cordelia's death?" Tim asked, I rubbed my forehead

"People who work with Angel, I need to call him." I quickly found his number and dialed, it was picked up seconds later

 _-Alex, nows not really a good time-_

"The people you work with are really rude, you know that?"

 _-What do you mean?-_

"I just got off the phone with them, they're looking for you by the way, don't you communicate with your people?"

 _-Alex, you're a bit off topic, what did they say?-_

"Demanded to know what I told you, and Doyle had the brilliant idea to say it was my fauly Cordelia died."

 _-He had no right to say that Alex, it wasn't your fault, don't listen to a word he says, I'll call them, don't worry you'll get an apology soon, thanks for calling and telling me-_

"Maybe you should communicate with your people better." I heard him sigh down the phone

 _-Alex-_

"I should go, good luck." I pulled the phone away from my ear but heard a faint _-Alex wait-_ as I hung up the phone. I sighed and set it down on the desk, then looked around the Bullpen to see them all looking at me "Um, hi."

"That seem like an interesting conversation." Tim commented, I shrugged

"Apparently I should expect an apology soon."

"As long as someone does apologise for that comment they made to you." Uncle Jethro said and returned to his paper work, as did the rest of the team, I returned to my drawing when a sudden thought hit me

"Uncle Jethro."

"Yeah?"

"Who did you think was calling me?" Uncle Jethro look up from the file he was reading and sighed "Who wouldn't know about me this quickly?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Alex's Pov**

It was a little later, when I heard Uncle Jethro's Phone ring

"Gibbs." I heard Uncle Jethro answer, I glance over and saw that he was staring down at his desk, while he had the phone pressed to his ear. I looked back down at my drawing and saw that I had been drawing Angel, I sighed and pulled the page from the sketch book, I then screwed it up and tossed it into the bin next to the desk. I thought back to that night in the training room, things were a little bit hazy, but I remember the majority

 _Flashback_

 _I walked into mine and Angel's training room, it was a refurbished apartment, he'd found the empty apartment in his building he lived in, after deciding his place was too small to train in, it was just two floors under his place, but it worked just fine. He'd paid to have it all re-done and bought all the furniture that was in it, which consisted of a bed in the other room, a small dining table and two chairs in the kitchen, the table was up against the wall besides the fridge, in the main room there were mats on the floor and dummies set up around the room. There were some weapons lined up against the wall and some even mounted on the wall as well, we'd not gotten around to working with them, not before he lost his soul an all._

 _I huffed and shut the door behind me, I made my way in to the kitchen and walked right over to the sink, I reached out to get a glass when I heard one of the chairs creaks behind me. I froze, no-one was supposed to know about this place except Angel_

 _"Crap." I heard a huffed like chuckle behind me. I turned around to face who it was, and dread filled me as soon as I caught sight of who it was… Angelus. I dashed out of the kitchen and raced for the front door, but I didn't make it as I was tackled to the ground and flipped onto my back so was looking up at him. He looked sad_

 _"Don't leave." He said, I glared at him_

 _"So, you can what? Eat me? No thanks." He growled_

 _"I don't want to eat you Xander! Haven't you noticed I haven't been chasing after the scoobies lately? Or the slayer for that matter, I thought I trained you better than that."_

 _"Yeah, I noticed, doesn't make you any less evil though, and you didn't train me! Angel did."_

 _"I am Angel! Just a little less soulless that's all."_

 _"Let me up." His face deflated_

 _"Xander- "_

 _"You said you don't want to eat me, so get off." He sighed and climbed off me, standing to his feet, he reached out a hand to me, but I ignored it and got to my feet by myself. I then turned and headed for the door_

 _"Please don't leave." I stopped right at the door and turned to face him_

 _"Yeah, why should I?"_

 _"Because I want to talk with you, without any violence, or because the slayer got involved, do you know how many times I've tried to approach you, when you've been on your own, only for the slayer to show up and chase me off?"_

 _"Uh, no, I didn't even know you'd tried to approach me."_

 _"Seventeen times Xander, I've ben trying to talk to you since my haze ended."_

 _"Your haze? You mean the one that led you to killing Ms Calendar?"_

 _"Yes, and I don't regret that- "I huffed and turned back to head out the door "Please let me explain!" I turned to glare at him_

 _"Explain what? How much you enjoyed killing her? How much to enjoyed terrorizing Giles in leaving his dead lovers body laid out on his bed? Or how much you devastated me?"_

 _"Devastated you?"_

 _"Ms Calendar, she was the only one I could talk to about home, besides Angel, when I heard about her death, it hurt, but when I learnt that you had done it, it nearly killed me." He looked shocked at my answer_

 _"Why? Why did it nearly kill you to learn that I did it?"_

 _"Because I have feelings for you! Or I have feeling for Angel, but I don't see him ever coming back if you can help it." I glared at Angelus, but only to get what looked to be a soft smile in return_

 _"Xander, do you know why I wanted to talk to you?" I shook my head "Where did you get those clothes you're wearing?" I shrugged_

 _"They came in the Post for me, even though I didn't order anything."_

 _"Have you had anything else sent to you recently?" I frowned_

 _"A few drawings of me, some little trinkets, why does it matter?"_

 _"They came from me." He said with a grin_

 _"What?"_

 _"I sent them to you, the clothes, the drawings, I do have to admit I may have sat outside your window to draw a few of them, but he rest of them were drawn from my memories, and the trinkets were just little things I picked up that I thought you might have liked, so, did you?"_

 _"What?"_

 _"Did you like the trinkets?" I nodded dumbly_

 _"Why?" He gave me a confused look_

 _"Why what?"_

 _"Why send me all those things? That amount of clothes must have cost a fortune." He shrugged_

 _"I've lived a long time, I've got money to spare." I huffed_

 _"That's not the point, why buy me then in the first place?"_

 _"Because you needed them."_

 _"What?"_

 _"You always said, when Angel asked you why you didn't have suitable clothes, you always said that you didn't have any, and you didn't have nay money to buy any either, so I got you some suitable clothes, and clothes that fit… they lost rather nice on you actually." I sighed_

 _"I don't understand, why get me anything or draw me anything in the first place?" he frowned_

 _"Isn't that what you're meant to do, when you intend to court someone?"_

 _"Court?" He nodded_

 _"Yes, is that not what people do these days? I admit I've not been around for a few hundred years, but I'm sure the custom is still the same, or is it flowers you get the person you intend to court?"_

 _"Why would you want to court me or all people?" he gave me a sad look_

 _"You thought he'd never return your feelings, that's why you didn't tell him, Angel, wow, referring to myself in the third person is strange, anyway, Angel only slept with Buffy to convince himself that he didn't love you." I looked at him in shock and he moved closer to me_

 _"What?" Angelus nodded and moved even closer, until he was right in my personal space and I was backed up against the door_

 _"He loved you but didn't think you'd return his feelings, so he started up something with the slayer, slept with her and released me, he might have not told you, but I will." He stepped even closer and pressed against me, his fingers pressed under my chin to lift my head up so I was looking him in the eye "I will never hurt you, if I so do, I will walk into the sunlight and turn myself to dust, I will always be good to you, I will always do right by you, if you'll have me as your partner, my consort, my lover?" I looked at him in shock, as he lent his face closer to mine "You can say no, push me away at anytime you want to stop, but I want to kiss you, right here right now."_

 _"I won't say no." Then his lips touched mine_

 _Flashback end_

I blushed thinking about what happened next, sleeping with him and waking up to empty bed with a drawing of my sleeping face on the pillow next to me, with a small note at the bottom _I'll be back soon, just something I need to take care of first A x_

Suddenly a different memory popped into my head

 _Flashback- **(Speech from the Becoming part two episode)** At the Hospital_

 _I leant over to the bed and gently takes Willow's hand into mine._

 ** _"Come on, Will. Look, you don't have a choice here. You gotta wake up. I need you, Will. I mean, how am I gonna pass trig, you know?"_** _I chuckle **"And who am I gonna call every night... and talk about everything we did all day? You're my best friend. You've always..."**_

 _I look at her for a long moment, I look away for an instant and then at her again, struggling with my emotions._

 ** _"I love you."_** _I saw her face twitch and her hand gives mine a squeeze. My eyes widen_

 _in hope. **"Willow?"** She takes a few breaths before responding, with her eyes still closed._

 ** _"(whispers) Oz? Oz?"_** _I lean away, a little taken aback. Oz must have heard her as he walked into the room._

 ** _"I'm here."_** _Oz responds, I look back at Oz_

 ** _"She's just starting to wake up."_** _I stand up, to let Oz go to her, he moves forward to take her hand and leans over the bed, but Willow still has her eyes closed_

 ** _"Hey, baby."_** _Oz says_

 ** _"Hi."_** _Willow responds weakly_

 ** _"I'm gonna go get a doctor."_** _I head out of the room to find a doctor_

 _Flashback End_

I sat up straight in the chair

"I don't remember going to see Willow at the hospital." There were a lot of other memories that filtered into my head, being on the phone to Buffy, her telling me where Angelus was hiding out, being back together with Cordelia, even though I know I wasn't with Cordelia at that time. Another memory of me offering to be back up to Buffy, telling her that Willow said kick his ass, even though she was trying the spell again.

"Alex?" I heard Uncle Jethro ask, I turned to look at him, only to see him stood at the edge of the desk I was sat at "You okay?" I shrug

"I'm having conflicting memories, I just need to sort through them, are you going somewhere?" he nodded

"We've got a case, Tim is getting Ducky and Tony is down gassing the truck, I just want to tell you where I was going, in case you needed me." I nodded

"Okay, I'll stay here." He chuckled

"Alright, if you need to use the head, it's just down there." He pointed behind him "Do you want me to bring you a drink back or something?" I shook my head

"Nah, I should be fine."

"Well, there's a vending machine in the break room, that's down that way as well, do you want some change for that?" I grinned

"That's okay, I've got change." He nodded and ruffled my hair

"We'll be back soon." I nodded, and he headed over to the elevator. I sighed, none of those memories seem right, like I'm observing myself doing something I know I didn't do, like getting Giles out of that mansion. I know I'll ring Giles, he was in those memories, he'll know if they're true or not. I pulled out my phone, I scrolled through my contacts until I reached Giles Phone number and pressed dial, before holding it to my ear.

It rang a few times before someone picked up

 _-Giles Residence, Rupert speaking-_

"Giles, I'm glad you picked up."

 _-Xander, good heavens, where are you? You've got us all worried-_

"What do you mean Giles?"

 _-Buffy and Willow came to me the other day and had you'd run off, gone missing, they're expecting you to turn up as a vampire any day now, you're not a vampire, are you? -_

"No Giles I'm not, and clearly they didn't tell you what really happened, but first I need to ask you a question."

 _-Go ahead-_

"The night that Buffy sent Angel to hell, did I come to get you out of the mansion?"

 _-No, Buffy got be out before she confronted Angelus, why on earth would you ask me a question like that? –_

"I think someone has tampered with my memories."

 _-What do you mean? –_

"I have memories of the night Angel was sent to hell, that aren't my memories, because I know where I was that night, but the memories of that night are trying to, how do you put it… overlap, they're trying to overlap the memories I have of that night."

 _-I can tell you right now Xander, I haven't been tampering with that kind of magic-_

"I know you haven't Giles, I just don't want to forget that memories I had of that night."

 _-Where are you Xander? I'll come and see if I can sort out what's going on and if I can reverse it for you-_

"That's, actually I'm not sure that's such a good idea Giles."

 _-You have magic messing with your mind and memory and you're telling me it's not a good idea to come and see you, tell me why-_

"Buffy and willow won't like it."

 _-What on earth are you talking about? They'll be relieved you're safe-_

"Giles, they're the reason I left in the first place, we'll left for a longer trip than I had originally planned to anyway."

 _-What do you mean? –_

"I was planning to go on a road trip over the summer break, get out of Sunnydale for a while."

 _-I can understand that, heavens know why I didn't think of the same thing, but obviously something else happened for you to say about a longer trip-_

"Buffy and Willow turned up the day I was leaving, they knocked on my front door, when I answered Buffy punched me in the face and claimed it was for lying to her, I don't recall lying to her Giles and I did, I don't know what for, she knocked me to the ground and started hitting and kicking me, yelling about her and Willow talking about an ensoulment spell, and I told her that Willow said Kick Angelus ass, instead of telling her Willow was trying the ensoulment spell again, Giles I don't know what to believe, my memories are all over the place."

 _-Xander, while you were in Sunnydale, do you remember being in the hospital with Willow and talking about the ensoulment spell, or going to the mansion? –_

"Possibly, I have two sets of memories for that night Giles."

 _-Tell me where you were that night, before these other memories started-_

"You'll hate me."

 _-I promise you I won't-_

"I know you will though."

 _-Xander, please just tell me-_

"I was with Angelus, Angel had been training me to defend myself before he lost his soul, we had our training place we'd meet up at, I fell of Angel, hard, I went there that night, hoping for a little bit of peace and calm, do some training after Kendra had been killed, but Angelus was there."

 _-What happened next? –_

"He convinced me to stay, that he wasn't going to hurt me, he told me that since his hazy had ended, he started courting me, sending me presents. He told me how he felt about me, how Angel had felt about me, but Angel had slept with Buffy to convince himself that he didn't love me."

 _-Xander, what else? –_

"I slept with him Giles, that's where I was that night, I woke up to an empty bed with a note on his pillow. It said he would be back soon, he just had something to take care of first… I waited for a few hours, it was day break by then and he hadn't come back, so I left, I headed home, Willow caught me the next day and demanded to know where I had been."

 _-What did you tell her Xander? –_ I thought for a moment

"I…. I don't remember."

 _-Xander, do you remember Willow telling you anything? –_

"Yeah, she told me that Angelus was gone, the spell had worked, but he was still in Hell, and Buffy was gone too, so we'd have to pick up the slack."

 _-Xander, I'm not upset with you, we can't help who we fall for, but I need you to tell me where you are, I need to remove the magic on you-_

"You think there's a spell or something on me?"

 _-I think so, as to the fact you can't remember what you said to Willow after that night, after managing to remember that night very well, I think Willow may have been playing with magic she doesn't understand, so I need to come and fix it, so, where are you? –_

"I'm staying with my Uncle, my mother's brother that is."

 _-And he lives where? –_

"Sorry, he lives in Washington DC."

 _-You're in Washington DC, alright, I'm going to pack a bag with some supplies and set off driving in about an hour, hopefully I should be there by the day after tomorrow, just, keep thinking about that night, your version, don't forget that, because if you do, the spell will have succeeded, I'll be there as soon as I can, maybe, maybe call Angel as well, he might be able to help-_

"Thank you, Giles."

 _-You're welcome Xander-_ then the phone line went dead, I pulled the phone away from my ear and pulled up a new text message to send to Angel

/ _Need to talk to you about something, when you've got time that is_ / I sent the text off and set my phone down on the desk. I sighed and stood from the chair, I made my way in the general direction Uncle Jethro had pointed out, to the break room. I managed to find it, after turning down the wrong passage and had a helpful Agent Balboa point me in the right direction for the break room, he even pointed out which way to the toilet which I was helpful for. I made my way over to the vending machine and pulled some change out of my pocket, I put the change into the slot and selected and can of soda, I collected it from the bottom and made my way back to the Bullpen and sat down at the desk I had been sat at before.

I noticed I had a new message from Angel, I picked up my phone to read it

\ _I have time for now, the stake out can't happen until sundown anyway, what do you need to talk to me about?_ \

/ _I'm not sure if talking about this over text is the best thing but I need to know, do you remember anything from your time as Angelus? /_

I set my phone back down to wait for a response, I opened my can of soda and took a sip, just as my phone began to ring. I set the can down and pick up my phone, it was Angel calling, I answered

"You didn't have to ring."

 _-Why do you want to know if I remember? –_

"A yes or no would have been find you know." I heard him growl down the phone

 _-Alex-_

"Fine, something happened between me and Angelus the night that Buffy sent you to hell, I just wanted to know if you remembered what happened as Angelus, because Giles thinks Willow might be messing with my memories."

 _-What do you mean? –_

"I mean I have two sets of memories from that night, I know what happened that night, but the other memories are trying to overlap the memories I have of that night and replace them, I'm already started to forget things, Giles told me to keep thinking about that night, and suggested I talk to you about it as well, thought it might help."

 _-Alex, this really isn't a conversation to have over the phone-_

"No, it isn't, but we're just going to have to make do, because I'm in Washington DC and you're in LA." I heard him sigh down the phone

 _-Yes, I remember that night, I remember what you and Angelus did together, what he told you, and the drawing he left you with a note on it-_

"What he said to me, about you, was that true? Do you remember what I said to him?"

 _-I remember it all Alex-_

"That didn't answer my other question." I heard him sigh again

 _-I don't really want to be talking about this over the phone Alex-_ I sighed

"I'll take that as a 'no it wasn't true' then."

 _-Alex, I told you I don't want to talk about this over the phone-_

"Good luck on your mission tonight."

 _-Alex-_ I hung the phone up and set it down on the desk, almost immediately it started ringing again, I glanced and saw it was Angel ringing me back, I pushed my phone away and began to draw again.


	9. Chapter 9

**Alex' Pov**

It was a while later that Uncle Jethro and the team returned, I had drawn two pictures in that time, one of me killing Angel with a stake and the other of Cordelia. My phone kept ringing, it had been ringing on and off for the past hour or so. Uncle Jethro stopped by the desk

"Are you going to answer that?" he asked

"Nope."

"Want to tell me why?" He asked again

"Because he doesn't have anything to say that I want to hear."

"Meaning?" I sighed and stopped drawing Cordelia, to look up at him

"Meaning, there is a lot going on and I thought he might have been able to help me and answer some questions, he remembers that night by the way, but then he wouldn't tell me if what his other half said was true or not, he just kept telling me that he didn't want to talk about it over the phone."

"Alex, what did you say to him?"

"I said, 'I'll take it as a no it isn't true then' and he told me again that he didn't want to talk about it over the phone, so I wished him luck and hung up, he's been trying to call back ever since, and in that time, I've drawn two pictures." I pushed the two pictures towards him, he looked down and picked up the one I'd draw of me killing Angel, and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, I huffed and crossed my arms

"Don't you want to hear what he has to say?" I shook my head

"Not at the moment, I'll need a while before I can talk to him without bursting into tears alright?" he nodded and set the picture back onto the desk before moving over to his own desk.

The team started to get to work on their case, I continued to work on my drawing of Cordelia.

-Night-

At some point after eating I'd laid my head down on my arms on the desk, and nodded off, only to be woken a few hours later by Uncle Jethro

"Come on kiddo, pack up, we're going home." He said, I nodded and put my sketch book into my bag along with the pencils, I stood and grabbed my phone, sliding it into my pocket, I followed Uncle Jethro to the Elevator. The ride down to the car was silent, apart from my constant yawning, the walk to the car was the same too, quiet, we both climbed into the car and fastened in "If you nod off in the car ride home, don't worry, I'll wake you when we get back." I nodded "Also, you'll be staying at home tomorrow too." I nodded

"Fine by me." He nodded and started the car, I leant my head against the window and let the rumble of the car lull me back into sleep.

It seemed like too soon that Uncle Jethro was shaking me awake, but when I opened my eyes, I saw that we were back at the house, and Tim was already back too

"When did Tim leave?" Uncle Jethro chuckled

"About An hour before we did, he's probably just got back from taking Jett out for his last walk." I yawned

"He takes Jett out at this time? What time is it?" Uncle Jethro chuckled

"It's about 11pm and yes he does, and early morning when he can fit it in." I smiled and we both climbed out of the car, I yawned as we headed into the house

"It's about time that you two got back." I heard Tim call from the Kitchen "Either of you hungry? I know it's late, but I'm making something for myself." Uncle Jethro looked down at me and I shook my head

"I'm gonna head up to bed." He nodded

"Off you go then Alex, I'll see you in the morning." I nodded and headed off upstairs, Jett trotting closely behind me, I sighed tiredly as I changed into my night wear, and flicked off the light, I slipped into bed and Jett hopped on curling up at the foot of my bed.

-The Next Day-

I woke up the next day to the sun light flooding into my eyes, I groaned and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I realised that Jett wasn't in the room, I frowned knowing that he was in my room last night when I went to sleep. I shrugged and climbed out of bed, I grabbed a change of clothes and got a quick shower, I then grabbed my phone and headed downstairs, Jett was curled up in his dog bed, I reached down and gave him a pat on the head. I headed into the kitchen not expecting Tim to be sat at the kitchen table working on his Laptop

"Tim?" he looked up from his computer and smiled

"Morning Alex, did you sleep well?" I nodded

"Yeah, did someone let Jett out of my room this morning? I didn't wake up to the usual slobbery kiss." Tim chuckled as he stood from his seat with a mug and headed over to the counter

"Jethro got Jett out of your room last night, he thought you could do with the sleep, not that it wasn't hard to get him out, he's become quite attached to you Alex." Tim explained while he poured himself a drink of what I assumed was coffee

"Oh, um, why aren't you at work?" Tim sighed

"Jethro left before me this morning, not long after he got there and just as I was about to leave, he rang me, we had the case taken off us again, so Jethro wanted me to do some work on cold cases from home for a while and go in this afternoon instead."

"Taken off you again?" Tim nodded and sat down at the table again, I joined him, sitting across from him

"The case that we got the other night, why we were late back, the Director took it off us, gave it to another team."

"Why?"

"The director says it's because we're not a full team, because one of members is still away, but Jethro seems to think it's for other reasons." Tim shrugged "By the way, your phone was ringing Early this morning." I frowned and pulled my phone out of my pocket, I dismissed all the missed calls from Angel and looked at the Text messages I had received from him instead

\ _I get that I upset you Alex, but please don't ignore me_ \

\ _We got all the children out safe, returned to their homes and the demon is dead, thank you again for getting that information_ \

\ _Alex if you don't answer my next call, I'm going to head over to DC\_

\ _I'm on my way to DC, we need to talk_ \

I sighed and then spotted there was a message from Giles

\ ** _I'll be there tomorrow afternoon at the latest, I stopped overnight in a motel and I'm setting back off on the road now_** _\_ I saw that that message had been sent at 7.30 am, at least he didn't drive through the night

"Good news or bad news?" I looked up at Tim and shrugged "Jethro told me a little about what happened with Angel, you know he could have just meant that he really didn't want to talk about it over the phone right?" I nodded

"I suppose so, but when he already knows my feelings about him, because he remembers that night, and he doesn't say anything, it hurts Tim, and I don't know what I'll say to his face when he turns up here."

"Wait, he's coming here? To DC?" I nodded

"That was one of the messages he sent me this morning at." I glance down at his last message "4.30am"

"So, he'll be here tomorrow afternoon at the latest then, considering that he'll drive through the night, but how will he drive through the day?" I shrugged

"It's been a while since I saw him last, something could have changed." Tim smiled

"Well, look at it this way, you've got time to mentally prepare yourself."

"That doesn't make me feel better Tim." He chuckled

"Do you want anything to eat? I can make you something before I continue working." I shook my head

"No thanks Tim, I'm not really in the mood to eat at the moment, mu appetite has left me." He gave me a sympathetic look, before returning his attention, back to his laptop. I sighed and looked back at Angel's last message

\ _I'm on my way to DC, we need to talk\_

I sighed and stood from the table, I headed towards the back door and Jett was suddenly at my side, I chuckled as he looked up at me wagging his tail. I opened the back door and Jett shot out, I grinned and stepped onto the back porch closing the door behind me, I watched Jett dart back and foth across the garden and then glanced down at my phone. I huffed and hit the dial button and held the phone to my ear. It was seconds before it was answered

- _If you're calling to tell me not to come, you're a bit late-_

"Angel if you had just answered me yesterday you wouldn't have needed to come out here, and it also wouldn't have been the reason I was ignoring you in the first place."

 _-So, you were ignoring me then?-_

"Of course I was Angel, did you really think I wanted to speak to you after the way you dismissed me?"

 _-I wasn't dismissing you Alex, I just felt that it was something we need to talk about in person-_

"Well, I don't think there is actually anything to talk about, you know what was said that night, clearly Angelus was lying to me, so he could get into my pants, so, you might as well turn back and go back to LA, I'm sure they need to there, that team of yours can't seem to function with you."

 _-Alex, Angelus didn't lie to you!-_

"Then tell me right now."

 _-Alex, I broke speed limits so I could get to you faster, I'll be in Washington tomorrow morning, this conversation can wait until then.-_ I sighed

"Don't bother."

 _-Stop being so stubborn!-_

"Then stop brushing me off! You've aready done it once, you clearly don't want to talk about this, so why even bother coming here?"

 _-Because this is not a conversation that I want to have over the phone, so I'm going to hang up and I'll see you in the morning-_ then the line went dead, I growled in frustration and shoved my phone into my pocket and slumped down to sit on the porch step, trying to stop the tears of frustration from falling down my face and failing miserbly

"Alex?" I heard Tim say, before he sat down on the step next to me "Oh, Alex." I huffed and wiped away the tears that were streaming down my face "You called him didn't you?" I nodded

"I wanted to try and persuade him not to come here."

"And I'm guessing it didn't work." I nodded "Did your uncle ever tell you how we got together?" I shrugged

"He sent a lot of letters, I still haven't managed to read them all, but in the ones I did read, he mentioned you a fair bit, from the sounds of it, he was ready to jump you if his control ever snapped." He chuckled

"Well, it didn't, I'll tell you that right now, when I first met your uncle, I was such a green Probie, it probably looked like I would hurl any time you saw me." I grinned "But your uncle terrified me, but his brashness also intreguied me, I wanted to know more about him, so I searched and searched, I originally worked up in Norfolk, so any chance I got to work with Gibbs and his team I took, even if it meant getting hazed by DiNozzo a lot."

"You got Hazed?" he shrugged

"Every Probationary Agent does, especially when you start on a team, it's their way of testing that you can keep up." I nodded "Anyway, after months of backward and forwards between here and Norfolk, Gibbs requested I got transferred to his team, he told me I belonged to him." He chuckled "It made my heart flutter a little." I grinned

"So, how did you two get together then?" he smiled

"Two years, two years after I joined his team, it was filled it heated looks, glaring at me, I thought he hated me."

"What made you change your mind?"

"I overheard him one day, talking to Ducky."

"Evesdropping." He shrugged,

"I was on my way to see Ducky anyway, Jethro just happened to already be there." I grinned

"So, what did he say?"

"He told Ducky that, though he had feelings for me, he would never do anything about it."

"Then how are you together?"

"I cornered him in an elevator, set it going and then shut it down using the emergency stop, something Jethro often does, he glared at me, so I glared back, then I pushed him against the wall of the elevator and kissed him, it was quick, but could you blame me if I was scared? I kissed him, then I set the elevator going again and got out as soon as the doors opened and bolted for the stairs." I laughed "It's not funny Alex." I chuckled

"Sorry Tim, but it kinda is, you kissed him and ran." Tim huffed, but grinned

"Well, he didn't let me run for long, I practically ignored him for the rest of the day and was the first one out the building when he let us go for the day, I was expecting him to turn up on my apartment doorstep."

"He followed you?"

"No, he turned up later, I was just about to turn in for the night, when there was pounding on my door, when I answered, the door was shoved open wider, I was pushed against the wall, opposite to my open door, with Jethro kissing me."

"He took you by surprise then."

"No kidding, that was two years ago and we still haven't told the team." Tim sighed

"Do you want to?" he gave me a long look, before nodding "Then why don't you talk to uncle Jethro about it?"

"I have Alex, everytime I bring the subject up, he either changes the conversation, or he leaves the room, he's a very private person, but I don't like being kept like a dirty little secret." I nodded

"I get that, do you think he might be waiting for the right moment?" he shook his head

"I don't think he'll ever tell them, not without a push."

"Then push him." He shook his head again

"I can't, I don't want to loose him Alex, I fear if I push him too far, I'll loose him for good." He sighed, I gave him a sad look

"I'm Sorry Tim." He smiled at me and shook his head

"No, don't be, I shouldn't be talking to you about this."

"No, I'm glad you did."

"So, what else did Angel say?" Tim asked, changing the conversation, I sighed

"He told me, that he drove all night, breaking speed limits, just so he could get here faster to talk to me, he'll be here in the morning."

"That's a good thing right?" Tim asked looking slightly concerned

"Not really I don't want him to hurry here, if he's just going to tell me he doesn't love me or that it could never happen with us, if that's the case then I don't want to hear it."

"And if he's not coming to tell you that? What then?" I shrugged

"I'm setting myself up for disappointment Tim, anything more than that is good."

"Just good?"

"Well, that all depends on what comes out fo his mouth when he gets here." He gave me a sad look and patted my shoulder

"Everything will be okay Alex, I promise, I've got to get some more work done before I head into the office, I'll let you know when I'm heading off."

"Alright." Tim nodded and got to his feet

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" I shook my head

"I'm not really hungry, I've lost my appetite anyway, I'll make myself something later." He nodded

"Alright then." Tim said then headed back inside, just then my phone buzzed in my hand, I looked down to see a text from uncle Jethro

 _\Everything okay Kiddo?\_ I smiled at his concern

- _Not really, but I won't bother you with the details while your working.-_ suddenly there was a nudge at my leg, I glanced down and saw Jett sat there looking up at me with sad eyes, I smiled and patted his head, which he then lent forward to rest his head on my knee, when my phone buzzed again

 _\I can always take a break, I could use a coffee run anyway/_ I grinned

 _-That's okay uncle, don't want to pull you away from important work.-_

The response came through on my phone shortly after

 _\I'll come pick you up, I'll be there soon\_

I huffed and got to my feet and headed back inside, to see Tim sat back at the table, typing away on his laptop

"Hey Tim."

"Yeah Alex?"

"Uncle Jethro's going to come pick me up." Tim looked up from his laptop and turned to face me

"Any reason why?"

"He messaged me and asked if I was okay, I told him not really but I didn't want to disturb him, he said he could use a coffee run and was going to come and get me." Tim nodded

"Alright, I'll head into work then, I should head in anyway, DiNozzo will definitely have something or say about me being late in." I shrugged

"Tim, were you staying at home because I was here?" Tim gave me a long look before nodding "Why?"

"Jethro knew you were upset, if he could help it, he didn't want you to be on your own, not that you would ever hurt yourself, but I don't think he wanted you to wander off and get hurt or lost for that matter." I nodded

"I can't understand that, so the story you told me earlier about your case being taken from you?"

"Oh, that was all true, it just gave me more of an excuse to stay home."

"Why? Is something else happening at work Tim?" Tim sighed and shook his head, before pausing and nodding

"Kinda, it's nothing serious, just Abby, she's pestering a little bit." I frowned

"Pestering about what?" He huffed

"Anything, everything, she thinks I'm dating someone."

"But you are, you're with uncle Jethro."

"Yes, but she doesn't know that, but she also doesn't like that I'm not exclusive to only her."

"Did you ever date her?"

"Once, before I joined Jethro's team, she didn't want anything long term and it was before I had any attraction to Jethro."

"So, she doesn't like that you're dating someone that's not her, but doesn't want to date you herself?" He nodded with a sigh

"Pretty much."

"But she won't stop pestering you until you and uncle Jethro tell everyone your together." Tim shrugged

"She might not even stop then." Suddenly we heard the door shut

"Alex? Tim? You both still here?" We heard uncle Jethro call

"Not a word about this to Jethro, alright Alex?"

"But Tim."

"No Alex, not a word."

"Not a word about what?" Uncle Jethro asked as he stood in the door way to the kitchen

"Nothing, I've got to get to work." Tim said picking up his latop

"Tim." Uncle Jethro said, reaching out to grasp his arm, but Tim jerked out of his hold

"Don't Jethro, I've got to go." Then Tim was gone, uncle Jethro turned to me

"What was all that about?"

"He doesn't want me to tell you uncle."

"Alex, I need to know why he's so upset, please tell me Alex, I don't like to see him upset."

"Then you already know why he's upset, uncle." Uncle Jethro went quiet and had a thoughtful look on his face, he then gave me a long look

"Because we haven't told the team about us? That's why he's upset?" I shrugged

"Can you blame him? How long have you been together?" Uncle Jethro sighed

"A few years now."

"Tim told me that you two got together, two years after he joined the team, how long ago did he join the team?"

"Four years."

"You two have been together for two years, and you haven't told anyone, I don't blame him for being upset, especially when Abby is baggering him about dating someone, and he can't say that he is with someone."

"Why is Abby baggering Tim? Did he tell you?" I sighed

"Tim didn't want you to know."

"Alex, I see Abby like a daughter, but Tim, Tim is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, if Abby doesn't like that, I don't care, now please tell me." I sighed again

"Abby doesn't like that Tim is dating someone that's not her, but doesn't want to date him herself, Tim wants to tell that team so badly…. Uncle Jethro, he gets that's you're a private person, but he doesn't want to be kept like a dirty little secret."

"He's not a dirty little secret."

"That's how he feels uncle." He huffed, and ran a hand through his hair frustrated, before sighing

"Let's go get that coffee, we'll talk more there." I nod and he lets out a shrill whistle, then Jett came bounding in and sat at his feet. "Shut and lock the back door kiddo, then we'll go." I nodded and walked over to the back door, I shut it and turned the lock, before walking back over to uncle Jethro, who patted Jett on the head and then wrapped and arm around my shoulders and led me to the door.

We stepped outside and I made my way over to his car as he locked the front door behind us. We both then climbed into the car and buckled in, uncle Jethro then started the car and backed out of the drive, and headed towards a coffee shop he knew. Suddenly my phone buzzed in my pocket, I reached into my pocket and pulled my phone out, it was a message from an unknown number

 ** _/I know you'll have told Jethro, he can pry information out of anyone, don't worry, I'm not upset, I'm sorry you got pulled into this Alex, I never should have said anything, I'll speak to Jethro later about it, but you should speak to him about Angel, he might be able to offer you some advice, Tim x/_**

I smiled slightly and saved his number to my phone

 _-Thanks Tim, and I am sorry I told him, but maybe someone else telling him, might help a little, we'll see-_

I slipped my phone back into my pocket and looked out the window at the passing scenery

"Was that Tim messaging you?" Uncle Jethro asked as we pulled up to a red light, I nodded

"Yeah, he was apologising to me, he didn't mean to get me pulled into this thing between you two, he also told me he wasn't upset with me for telling you, because he knows you can pry information out of anyone." He chuckled

"I suppose so, but I'm glad you told me Alex, Tim would never have told me his feeling about this, I'm glad he confided in you, but I'm also glad you told me, I'll be able to talk to him about this now."


End file.
